Grim Reaper
by criminalxxxmindsxxxfreak
Summary: Hotch and Reid are kidnapped by a mysterious man with a grudge. He's angry at Hotch and has decided the best way to get his revenge is to make him watch as he tortures Reid... No slash. Rated M for torture, violence, language and gore.
1. Kidnapped

**A/N: I was gonna wait until I finished posting "Haunted" to start this, but it couldn't wait any longer cuz im impaitent, so here it is, the winner of the poll I took... "Grim Reaper" **

**Alright peoples, this is the first story that I've written with Hotch as a main character… I really do love his character, so I hope I can do him justice. Cross your fingers!**

**Basically, I decided to write this because I realized that I torture Reid and Morgan a lot… (mostly Reid) and wanted to write something with another character being hurt (though Reid will be hurt as well…)**

**WARNING: violence, blood, mild swearing… all that good stuff. Oh, and there will be spoilers for episode "100" because I find it hard to write about Hotch without thinking of that episode…**

**Sooooo…**

**PLEASE REVIEW! Opinions and feedback are much loved! I'll gives you cookies! XD**

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_"Darkness always had its part to play. Without it, how would we know when we walked in the light? It's only when its ambitions become too grandiose that it must be opposed, disciplined, sometimes - if necessary - brought down for a time. Then it will rise again, as it must."_

~Clive Barker, _Arabat_

Ch. 1: Kidnapped

Aaron Hotchner smiled as his son, Jack, played with his action figures on the floor of the living room. It had been almost ten months since Jack's mother, Haley, had been murdered. The scars were still healing, especially for Hotch. Jack, being so young, still wasn't fully aware of the situation, but it was clear that his missed his mother.

Hotch glanced over at the photo on the table, a picture taken back when Jack was a toddler, of him, Haley and Jack. He had a rare smile on his face. These days those smiles seemed to be getting even harder to conjure up, but somehow Jack always seemed to manage it. Hotch laughed when his son made one of the "bad guys" crash to the ground and explode.

Looking at the clock he realized it was nearly ten o'clock. "Whoa, Jack, it's passed your bedtime, buddy." he said, standing up from the couch, his muscles stiff. He'd been sitting there watching his son play for nearly two hours.

Jack pouted, "Aw, but I'm not done yet!" he protested.

"It's late, Jack." Hotch said gently, kneeling to pick up the scattered toys. "You can finish playing in the morning… it's Saturday isn't it?"

Jack smiled and nodded, "Alright." he said, helping his dad pick up the action figures. "Daddy?" he asked as they climbed the stairs.

"Yeah, Jack?"

"I love you." he said, stifling a yawn.

Hotch smiled, a genuine, bright smile and ruffled his son's hair. It was the moments like that that made all of the hard work and stress worth it. Knowing he was making the world safer for his son was the driving force behind his work now. He watched as Jack brushed his teeth and got ready for bed.

"Good night, dad!" Jack said sleepily as Hotch plugged in the nightlight. Hotch smiled. "Good night, buddy." he whispered back to the dim room. He stood in the door way for a few moments, a contented smile on his face as he watched Jack sleeping. This past week had been better for the two of them. Hotch had worked less and Jack had stopped sleeping in his room as often.

He knew they both still had a long way to go, but hopefully it wouldn't be too long, and it was already getting less painful. He woke up each morning thinking about Haley and each morning, the ache got a little more bearable, a little less painful.

* * *

Spencer Reid yawned, turning the page of his book again and blinking against the itching burn of his eyes. It was after ten o'clock already, but he didn't really want to go to bed. The last week had been a rough one on him, despite the somewhat lighter caseload. His mother had had a severe episode a few days earlier and the doctors at Bennington had been forced to sedate her. She'd attacked three of the nurses and refused to take her medication.

Reid had talked to her a few hours earlier, trying to soothe her frayed nerves. At first, it had seemed like it was working, but then, half way through the conversation, Diana had become convinced that he was some imposter trying to hurt her son. The doctors were able to calm her down before she went into another fit, but the whole ordeal had left Reid incredibly tired.

Not to mention the argument he'd had with Morgan the day before… He knew it was stupid to be angry about something as silly as him dumping files onto his desk, after all he and Prentiss had been doing it for years and he'd never minded before, but he'd been having a bad day and his knee was aching and… somehow their argument just got out of control and Morgan accidentally mentioned drugs…

Reid scowled. He knew it wasn't Morgan's fault. He was just taking his frustration out on him because it was easier. What kind of friend did that make him? Morgan was supposed to be his best friend, but he was going to stop talking to him all because of a few file folders and a slip of the tongue. He shook his head, sighing.

He wondered if Morgan was still awake… Well, no other way to find out… He picked up his cell phone and hit the speed dial button for Morgan. He picked up after two rings. "Hey, kid." He sounded tired… or maybe it was sad. Reid couldn't really tell over the phone.

"Hey Morgan." Reid said… wondering what exactly he was going to say. "Look… I just… I wanted to apologize for how I acted yesterday. It wasn't your fault. I've just been having a bad week and my mom's having problems… I shouldn't have blown up at you like that."

"It's not your fault, Reid." Morgan assured him. "It happens to everyone. I was going to apologize to you… for what I said about… you know…"

Reid pressed his lips together. "Yeah… I know." he said. "I know you didn't mean it. It's my fault anyway. I just wanted to say I was sorry."

He could almost hear the smile in Morgan's voice. "How about this, I'll forgive you if you forgive me."

Reid laughed, "Sounds good." he said, rubbing his eyes again. They were burning still, but he just didn't want to go to sleep.

"You sound tired, kid."

"I am tired." Reid said, flipping the book in his lap closed.

"So get some sleep." Morgan said. "I'll see you in the morning."

"Alright, see you then."

He hung up and looked around his small apartment, wondering what he could do to keep himself awake. There didn't seem to be much to do, honestly. He sighed, leaning his head against the back of the couch and closing his eyes for a moment. Before he realized it, he was sleeping. Not in a very comfortable position, but sleeping all the same.

* * *

He stood outside of the small apartment complex, glancing impatiently at his watch. He had a set schedule that he intended to follow, but he wasn't exactly a patient man. Still, this was a plan that had to go off perfectly. And to do that, he had to wait. He had to follow the rules that he had set down before this all started. Because once he was finished with his plans for tonight, there would be no turning back.

He paced back and forth, standing next to his vehicle, glancing up every few minutes to make sure that no one could see him. There were a few windows lit up but he'd parked under a tree and stood in the shadows. Even if someone saw him, they wouldn't be able to identify him. Several agonizing minutes later, it was eleven o'clock on the dot.

A grin stretched across his face and he slowly, purposefully made his was toward the building. Anyone looking would think he'd been here hundreds of times. In fact, he had practiced the casual walk, made sure to memorize the path so that he didn't appear lost… he had made sure that every last detail was taken care of. He wasn't about to slip up and get himself caught before he'd finished with his plans.

He studied them long enough, more than eight months now. His plan had been forming for nearly a year. He saw how they operated, how they functioned. It was odd, and convenient, that they worked more like a family than co-workers. He had known it would hurt more to go after someone he cared about… and since the only blood family he had living was his son - and he wasn't too keen on harming a child - or his brother, all the way in New York, this just made things easier.

He'd done his research, he knew all of their names, where they were born, when they were born, who their parents were. He probably knew more about them than their teammates did. And he'd noticed something very intriguing about their youngest member. Despite the fact that he was now thirty years old - an adult for all intents and purposes - they all seemed strangely protective of him.

He'd thought at first that it was because he was their weakest link, but his research didn't really support that. The kid was a genius for God's sake! He was probably one of their biggest assets… still, he had a very vulnerable air about him. And of course, there was the incident in Georgia that he turned up. Perhaps that was why they were all so protective of him. He'd already been a victim and they didn't want it to happen again.

Either way, it didn't matter. Because all he was concerned about was his relationship with his boss. It wasn't the typical boss/subordinate relationship. Then again, what was typical about these people? Still, he was treated almost like a son by the Unit Chief, a fact that made this so much sweeter for him. It would be the ultimate revenge, and what better way to execute that revenge than to make sure that he had to watch every minute of it?

He had finally reached the door he had been heading for. He tested the doorknob, expecting it to be locked. He wasn't disappointed. He pulled a small metal device - it looked almost like a hair pin or a very thin screw driver - and stuck it into the locking mechanism. Turning it, the door now swung open and he entered the apartment.

The apartment was neat and smelled clean, almost like disinfectant. He smiled and placed the lock pick back in his pocket, taking a few more slow steps into the area. He pulled a sleek black gun from his pocket and walked into the living room. There he saw him, sleeping on the couch.

He almost laughed. This couldn't be more perfect. The tricky part, of course, would be getting him out of here without anyone noticing. But he had a plan for that too. He prodded the young man in the shoulder with the gun, standing in front of him. "Spencer," he said, leaning down closer. "Dr. Reid, wake up."

The young man blinked a few times and stifled a yawn, looking around for a moment. When his eyes fell on the man before him he paled. The man chuckled and put a finger to his lips, making sure to keep the gun pointed at him. "Spencer, how nice of you to wake up." he grinned. "Now, I need you to listen, ok? This gun is loaded and unless you want me to shoot you, you'll cooperate."

* * *

Reid woke up, hearing someone whispering his name. For a second, he thought it was his mother, but then he registered that the voice was male. And that he had never heard it before. He opened his eyes and blinked a few times, focusing on the man in front of him. He only half heard what the man was saying to him, but when he said, "This gun is loaded and unless you want me to shoot you, you'll cooperate." his eyes widened in shock.

He licked his lips nervously. "Alright." he said, nodding. "Wh-what do you want?"

The man smiled. It would've been described as a charming smile but there was something about his eyes that unsettled Reid… they were empty. Completely cold. "I want you to come with me. We're going to do pick someone else up and then the real fun begins."

Reid swallowed, "The real fun?" he asked anxiously.

The man nodded, "Yes. And before you consider doing something stupid and noble to help this other person, consider this: I know where Miss Jareau and that adorable godson of yours live. Would you really want me to harm either of them?"

Reid paled considerably. He knew about JJ and Henry? What else did he know? "No." he said quietly.

"I didn't think so." the man said. "Now stand up and come with me. We're going to walk calmly down to my car and you're going to act like this is completely normal, understand?"

He nodded shakily, standing slowly. He allowed the man to lead him to the parking lot and a large, dark SUV that was parked in the shadows of a nearby tree. As soon as they were under the cover of the trees, the man opened the door and, keeping the gun on Reid, leaned in and pulled a set of handcuffs out of the glove compartment.

"Give me your hands." he ordered.

Reid didn't hesitate, he held out his wrists and let the man cuff him. "Now, climb into the back seat." he said. He nodded and awkwardly climbed inside with a little help from the man, who then leaned over him and buckled the seat belt.

"Now you just sit tight, Dr. Reid. I've got one more guest to pick up and we can begin."

Reid bit his lip and nodded. When he'd climbed into the seat he'd noticed a black bag sitting open on the center console. The overheard light shone on it and he saw several knives, a black mask, another gun, another pair of handcuffs and … was that a screwdriver? He cringed, not wanting to know what this man was planning.

* * *

Hotch sat in his living room after putting Jack to bed, looking through an old photo album. He hadn't really looked through it in years. He wondered where his life would be right now if George Foyett had never escaped, if Haley had never left… He sighed, knowing it was too late to try and fix something that as permanently broken. At least he still had Jack. At least he still had some small shred of hope to cling to.

He was surprised to hear the phone ringing. A familiar frown settled over his face before he'd even picked the phone up. He wasn't supposed to be on call right now. "Hotchner." he answered out of habit, almost forgetting that this was his home phone.

"Hello Agent Hotchner." a man's voice crooned on the other end of the line. "How's your night been? Good I suppose… Well trust me, it's about to become a nightmare."

"Who is this?" he demanded, his eyes darkening, frown turning into a scowl.

"That's not important right now. What is important is that I have something very valuable to you. Well, someone, I should say." the voice taunted him.

Hotch's knuckles whitened against the receiver. "What are you talking about?" he demanded.

"Let's play a game, Agent Hotchner." the voice continued. "Who do you care about more than yourself? No, it's not your son… although, he is quiet adorable."

"Leave my son out of this!" Hotch growled.

"Oh, don't worry, I'm not going to touch little Jack. But I've got someone just as special. Can you guess who? Hmm… tick - tock, Agent Hotchner. Guess correctly or I punish him…"

Hotch frowned. Trying to think… there were a lot of people he cared about. Everyone on the team, his brother… no. It couldn't be Sean… Sean was in New York, wasn't he? He bit his lip. If he was wrong, and it wasn't his brother… someone else was going to be hurt. "Why not punish me for getting it wrong?" he asked evasively.

The man laughed, "Because punishing him, punishes you. Think, Agent. You're a smart man. At least, you consider yourself one. Who did I take? Who is in danger at this very moment because of your own stupidity?"

It wasn't Sean. He hadn't actually talked to Sean in about a year. Not since right after Haley's death. So… who was it? "Tick - tock…" the man sang, seeming to enjoy himself.

Hotch closed his eyes. He'd said it was a man… He tried to narrow down the list. Rossi. Morgan. Reid. … He couldn't picture someone being able to kidnap Rossi. Or someone wanting to, really. And Morgan would have to have been drugged or attacked from behind and knocked out. He hated to think it would be easier for someone to kidnap Reid… Maybe easier wasn't the right word. Reid just seemed like an easy target, but Hotch knew that wasn't entirely true. Reid was a lot stronger than unsubs seemed to think. Still, if he was going to think like an unsub, then Reid was the most likely target. Wasn't he?

He didn't want to play this game with the man, but someone was in danger, so he had to. Wanting to be both right and wrong at the same time, Hotch took a deep breath. "Is it Reid?" he asked.

"Bingo! Just when I thought you weren't going to get it. I was worried for a minute that you might think I'd taken your brother… how stupid would that have been?"

Hotch scowled. "Where's Reid?" he demanded.

"Oh, Dr. Reid…? He's sitting right here with me." the man said. "Spencer… would you like to say hello to your boss? You do remember what we talked about, don't you?"

Hotch frowned. What did he mean by that? He didn't have a chance to wonder though, because a second later, he hear Reid's voice on the other end of the phone. "Hotch…"

"Reid! Are you alright? Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine." Reid said. "Just… a little scared, but I'm fine."

"Don't worry Reid, I'll get you out of this." Hotch promised.

"Aw, isn't that sweet?" the man was back. "But I'm afraid you're wrong about that. How can you possibly save little Spencer if you're here with him?"

"What?" Hotch frowned.

"You heard me Agent Hotchner." the man said, his voice suddenly dangerously soft. "I've got a gun in my hand right now, and if you don't hang up the phone right now and walk outside to my car, I'll blow Dr. Reid's brains right out of his head."

Hotch's jaw tightened. "I…" he didn't think he'd ever been at a loss for words in his entire life. "I can't just leave my son here alone!"

"Don't worry, Aaron." He scowled when the man called him by his first name. "You can call Jessica to look after Jack once you get to the car. But not before. I'm waiting. You've to two minutes to be out here or Dr. Reid's blood is on your hands."

He heard the click of the line going dead and he shut his eyes, his mind racing. Pressing his lips together he grabbed a marker from the coffee table and sheet of paper. He wrote in big letters "REID AND I HAVE BEEN KIDNAPPED! CALL MY TEAM IMMEDIANTLY!" and scrawled Morgan's number underneath it. He stuck the note to the fridge so that Jessica would find it.

He took a risk and slid his gun into his ankle holster before exiting the house, wondering how the man knew about Jessica and Jack. What else did he know about him?

* * *

The man grinned as Agent Hotchner walked slowly out of his house. He spotted the SUV quickly and began walking in that direction. He opened the door, gun in hand, and walked around to the passenger side. "Hello, Aaron." he said, smiling. He saw a look of irritation pass over the man's face when he said his first name, but that just made it more fun.

He motioned to the SUV where the back passenger door stood open. Dr. Reid was sitting there, his eyes wide with fear. "Reid." Hotchner breathed, a tiny look of fear leaking into his eyes.

He grinned, "Like I said, Agent Hotchner, I took someone you cared about. And you are extremely protective of this young man, are you not?"

"Let him go." Hotch growled, glaring at him.

"I don't think so. This wouldn't be nearly as entertaining without him. Now stand with you arms straight out, parallel to the ground, and spread you legs."

Agent Hotchner scowled and made no move to comply. He sighed and put the barrel of the gun to Agent Reid's forehead. "Do it now, Aaron, or I pull the trigger."

Scowling, Hotch relented and stood like he was told. The man, still holding the gun, patted his sides down, checking for weapons. When he got to his ankle he paused and frowned, lifting up the pant leg. "What's this?" he asked, raising a brow. "Were you trying to slip this passed me, Agent Hotchner?" he shook his head sadly. "I'm afraid that's just not allowed." he pressed his lips together for a moment. "In the future, you should really think about how your actions affect other people… like, Agent Reid, for example. See, you tried to sneak a gun in… and for that, I'm afraid Spencer's going to have to suffer."

Hotch paled, but didn't let his fear show. The man didn't like that. He wanted to see Agent Hotchner broken. "I'm the one who did it, you should punish me." he insisted.

"I already explained this, Aaron. By punishing Dr. Reid, I'm punishing you. In the worst possible way." He grinned. "But don't worry too much, it won't be too bad… not the first time at least."

Reid didn't say a word, something the man thought was very commendable. He could've sat there and cried and begged to be let go, begged him not to hurt him, but he didn't. He just sat there, calmly. He smiled and reached inside the vehicle, pulling out his second pair of cuffs. "Turn around, Agent Hotchner. I don't trust you enough to cuff you in the front."

Scowling, Hotch turned around and he locked the metal bracelets around his wrists tightly. The man roughly grabbed him by his elbow and shoved him into the front passenger seat. Grinning at Reid in the backseat he said, "Don't worry, Dr. Reid, you'll get your punishment. But it's going to have wait until we get to somewhere a little more… private."

* * *

Reid stared at the seat in front of him, a barrage of emotions running through him. He was glad Hotch wasn't going to get hurt… but that didn't mean he wanted to be hurt. Especially after what he'd seen in the man's bag. He couldn't stop fear from trickling into his chest and constricting it until he felt like he couldn't breath. But wasn't about to show this man how truly afraid he was.

He sat there, forcing himself to remain calm. He knew Hotch would've left something for the team. Something to alert the others as soon as possible. And until then, they just had to focus on staying alive and figuring out what this guy's plan was.

He listened almost passively as Hotch called Haley's sister, Jessica, on the disposable cell phone that the man had used to call Hotch's house. He heard him explain that an important case had come up and he had to leave immediately and needed her to watch Jack for him while he was gone.

Reid's eyes kept flickering to the man, who was grinning from ear to ear. Clearly, whatever this was, it was about Hotch. He was intently focused on him. But what Reid couldn't figure out was why. He'd never seen the man before, Hotch didn't seem to recognize him… so what reason could he possibly have for kidnapping them?

They pulled up to a an old farm house some hours later and Reid had a sinking feeling in his gut that they would soon know what this man wanted from them.

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**E/N: Phew! *wipes sweat from brow* that is the longest chapter I've ever written on a fanfic, and I wrote it all in one sitting! I just couldn't stop!**

**So, anyone else curious about who the heck this guy is and what he has against Hotch? I already hate him and he hasn't even done anything yet!**

**Please review! I love feedback!**


	2. Punishment

**A/N: Reviews rock! Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I loves you guys so much! And… Thanks to everyone who added this favorites and story alert as well!**

**Now, let's see… This story will be pretty Hotch-centric (and Reid-centric 'cause I love him too much to in a very sick way… lol)**

**WARNING: blood; violence; mild language… probable torture scenes…**

**PLEASE REVIEW! Reviews are the most amazingly wonderful drug for me… since crack kills, I need reviews otherwise… withdrawals aren't pretty… lol…**

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Ch. 2: Punishment

Jessica yawned as she pulled into the driveway of Aaron's house. She couldn't count the number of times she'd babysat for Jack while Aaron was out on a case. She didn't mind, of course. It was her sister's son, and Aaron was a good man, a workaholic, but a good man. She frowned when she saw his SUV still parked in the driveway. Hadn't he said he needed to leave immediately on an important case?

She walked toward the house with a strange sense of unease spreading through her. She didn't know why she felt so nervous. It must've been because it was so dark outside and the streetlights didn't do much of a job lighting the street. It was more like they added to the air of creepiness she was feeling.

The door was unlocked, which sent off warning bells in her head. Aaron never left the door unlocked with Jack home alone. He hardly ever left Jack alone at all and he certainly wouldn't have forgotten to turn on the alarm, which she noticed was also off. Shutting the door behind her, she locked it and half whispered, "Aaron? Aaron are you still here?"

A sense of foreboding was clutching at her as she entered the living room. On the coffee table was an old album with pictures of Haley and Jack and Aaron. Pressing her lips together she sprinted up the stairs, looking first in Jack's room. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw him sleeping soundly. She hurried to Aaron's room and found it empty. What was worrying was the fact that his overnight bag, which he always took with him on cases, was packed and sitting next to the bed. Surely he wouldn't have forgotten that.

Biting her lip, she walked back down the stairs and headed to the kitchen, wondering what other surprises were going to greet her. She was about to open the refrigerator and get something to drink when she saw the note stuck there. In large block letters was the message "REID AND I HAVE BEEN KIDNAPPED! CALL MY TEAM IMMEDIANTLY!".

Jessica paled. "Oh my God." she breathed. It took her a minute to actually move. She took a moment to memorize the number scrawled at the bottom and then she was running. She was back in the living room in seconds, ripping the phone out of its cradle. She had to dial the number three different times because her hands were shaking so badly she kept pressing the wrong buttons.

Finally, she got it right and held the receiver to her ear anxiously. A groggy voice answered. "Hotch, please don't tell me we've got another case… it's after midnight, man!"

It had to be one of Aaron's co-workers. She knew they called him Hotch. "Who is this?" she asked, her voice catching in her throat.

"Supervisory Special Agent Derek Morgan," the man answered, sounding more alert now, and confused. "Who's this?"

Morgan; she remembered him. He'd been at Haley's funeral. "Morgan, this is Jessica, Aaron's sister-in-law. I'm at his house… he called me a little while ago and said he had a case… but, when I got here…" she trailed off, panic squeezing her chest. "When I got here I found a note… it says 'Reid and I have been kidnapped. Call my team immediately' and you're number was underneath it."

"What!" Now he sounded very awake. "Are you sure?"

"I'm positive. His car's still in the driveway, his ready bag is upstairs, Jack's asleep… but Aaron's not here." she said, growing more worried with every word.

"Alright, Jessica, just hang tight. I'm gonna call the rest of the team and we'll be there in a few minutes. Make sure Jack's ok."

She nodded out of habit, "Ok. Hurry." she urged.

"I will." he promised.

* * *

Morgan snapped his phone shut, adrenaline pumping through his veins. Reid _and _Hotch were kidnapped? It had to be some sort of joke. Some horrendous mistake. He got dressed as quickly as he possibly could and grabbed his phone again. The first person he called was JJ.

She answered almost immediately. "Morgan, this had better be important." she complained. She sounded tired.

"Hotch is missing and Reid might have been kidnapped." he said without bothering with a greeting.

"What?" JJ asked, trying to process that statement.

"I need you and Prentiss to go to Reid's apartment and check things out. I'll call Rossi and tell him to meet me at Hotch's. You call Prentiss, alright?"

"Y-yeah, ok." JJ said, sounding scared. "Are you… are you sure?" she asked.

"Not a hundred percent, that's why you're going to Reid's. Call me when you know anything." he said. "And be careful."

"You too." she said quietly before hanging up. Morgan pressed his lips together and slid into his car, dialing Rossi's number.

It took several rings but he finally answered. "Morgan, why in God's name are you calling me at this hour?" he demanded, sounding like he'd just woken up. Which, given the time, was highly likely.

"I just got a call from Hotch's sister-in-law. He's missing and Reid might've been kidnapped."

"What?" Rossi sounded shocked.

"I need you to meet me at Hotch's, alright?"

"I'll be there in about fifteen minutes," Rossi assured him, hanging up.

Morgan sighed, one hand gripping the steering wheel in a devastatingly tight grip, the other holding his cell phone. Now for the call he didn't want to make. Garcia…

* * *

Garcia wasn't asleep, she couldn't sleep. She'd been having nightmares lately and even with Kevin staying over more often than usual, they just wouldn't go away. So, she sat at her computer instead, playing online games. She was so intently focused on the game that she didn't hear the phone ring at first, and when she did she cursed under her breath, muttering angrily before pausing the game.

"This had better be important," she half-growled into the phone. "I was just about to beat Level 47!"

"Hey, Baby Girl… why aren't you sleeping?" he asked.

She frowned. Something was wrong, she could tell from his voice. Morgan never called her this late. "What happened?" she asked, every nerve in her body tensing with fear.

"What makes you think something happened?" he asked evasively.

"Morgan," she said, "I can tell something's wrong. I can hear it in your voice. What happened?" she repeated.

She could almost see the look of reluctance on his face when he spoke, "Hotch is missing." he said.

She blinked, unable to understand that sentence. Hotch? Missing? Since when did something like that happen to Hotch? George Foyett immediately jumped to her mind, but she shoved the thought away. Foyett was dead. Hotch was a strong man, how could he just go missing like that? Before she had a chance to say anything, Morgan was talking again.

"His sister-in-law found a note at his house from him that said he and Reid had been kidnapped." she heard the distress in his voice then.

Reid too? She hated to admit that it was easier to believe Reid was kidnapped than it was Hotch… He'd already been in so much danger before. So why was it happening again? She was silent for several minutes, trying to actually process what Morgan had just told her.

"Garcia?" Morgan asked, sounding worried.

"I'm here." she said, her voice breaking. "Wh-what do you need me to do?"

"I know it's late, but the team's going to Reid's apartment and Hotch's house to check everything out and we're going to meet back at Quantico… do you think you could head over there now and start looking through their files for anyone who'd want to do this?"

She pressed her lips together, "Yeah, ok." she said. "I can do that…" she trailed off, tears starting to fall. "You'll find then, right?" she asked.

"Yes, we will." he assured her. "Don't worry, Baby Girl, we're not going to let anything happen to Hotch and Reid."

"Good." she said, sniffling, trying not to start sobbing. "Make sure you don't."

* * *

The old house looked like it had been abandoned for years. The paint was peeling away, some of the shutters in the upper levels were falling off and weeds had grown up around the porch steps. The man turned the key in the ignition, silencing the engine of the SUV. "Wait right here," he said, taking the gun, the keys and the black bag with him and locking the doors as he went.

Hotch immediately turned around, "Reid, please tell me you can get out of those handcuffs," he said, looking at him desperately. Reid didn't think he'd ever seen that look on Hotch's face before.

"I tried already…" he said sadly. "I just … can't." he sighed, biting his lip.

"Try unlocking the door then," Hotch said.

"Hotch, we're in the middle of nowhere -"

"Just do it!" Hotch snapped, regretting it instantly. It wasn't Reid's fault they'd been kidnapped. In fact, if their kidnapper was to be believed, it was Hotch that he really wanted.

Reid jumped slightly at the anger in Hotch's voice and leaned forward, trying to pull the lock open on the door. It slipped from his hands several times, but finally came up. A small smile on his face then, he pulled at the handle, but the door wouldn't budge. "It must be child locked." he said.

Hotch scowled, pressing his lips together. It probably wouldn't have done them much good anyway. Like Reid had said, they were in the middle of nowhere. He didn't have time to think of something else to do before the man returned, empty handed except for the gun and keys. He unlocked the doors with the small remote on the key chain and walked over to the passenger side, opening Reid's door first. "Come with me," he said.

Hotch started to say something but he pressed the gun roughly into Reid's side and hissed, "One word, Agent Hotchner, and Dr. Reid won't live to see tomorrow."

Reid shut his eyes, worried, more about Hotch than himself. Hotch remained silent. "Good, now, Spencer, come with me." he said again, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him out of the car before shutting the door and hitting the lock button on the remote.

Reid frowned, still wondering what this guy really wanted, before he felt him tug on his arm and reluctantly, he stumbled along beside him. Trying to get him talking, Reid licked his lips, "W-what's your name?" he asked.

The man chuckled, "I was wondering when you were going to ask that." he said with a grin, pushing him into the house. "It's Christopher, but I suppose you can call me Chris."

Reid nodded slowly, wondering whether or not he was being honest. Odds were, Christopher wasn't his real name, but it was possible. "Chris… why are you doing this?"

It took him almost a full minute to respond as he pulled Reid farther into the dark house. "It's nothing personal, Spencer. This has more to do with Aaron than you… but you're the youngest. The easiest target, and it's obvious that your boss, and the rest of the team, is protective of you. You're the most logical choice."

Reid winced at those words, stung by the blunt truth in them. "But why Hotch? What did he do?"

"That's not really your concern. I want him to figure that out for himself." Chris said, stopping at the end of a long hall and pushing the door open to reveal a brightly lit and rather large room. There were two bed inside, equipped with chains. Despite the condition of the outside of the house, this room was in pristine condition.

Reid spotted a camera in the corner of the ceiling and frowned. There wasn't much else in the room… a couple of wooden chairs, one of which had more chains attached to it and a … Reid's eyes stopped when he caught site of the object. It looked like an autopsy table, sitting about four feet in front of the beds. He swallowed. There were no windows.

"This room used to be three rooms," Chris said, leading him farther inside. That explained why the room was so large. "But I've been renovating and fixing things up for your arrival."

Reid was tempted to ask how long he'd been planning this, but he had a feeling he wouldn't get an answer. "I really am sorry that this has to happen to you, Dr. Reid. You don't seem like such a bad person… but I've got to make Agent Hotchner suffer for what he did… and this is how I decided to do it."

Reid felt his gut twisting nervously, "What did Hotch do to you?" he asked again.

"I already told you, that's not really your business. You'll just have to wait and see if he can figure it out." Chris said. They were at far end of the room now, where the beds and autopsy table sat.

Chris sighed, "I really am sorry for this," he said, unlocking the handcuffs. "But it has to be done."

Reid swallowed thickly, and then gasped for air as Chris suddenly slammed a fist into his stomach. While he was incapacitated, Chris gripped his shoulders and lifted him up, pushing him onto the metal table and locking the restraints onto his wrists and ankles. "I'll be right back," he said, pulling off Reid's shoes. "I get the feeling Aaron isn't going to want to miss this."

Reid fought to keep from whimpering. He was more scared than he could ever remember being. But he couldn't, wouldn't, let this man know that. He had to be strong. Hotch would expect him to stay strong. He had a feeling that it wasn't going to be that easy though.

* * *

Hotch was getting worried and impatient when the man finally returned, without Reid. As soon as the door opened, he demanded, "Where's Reid?"

"He's fine, don't worry. You'll see him in a minute." he growled at him. He yanked Hotch out of the vehicle by the arm. "Now come on, unless you want him to suffer more."

Hotch scowled, but obeyed, allowing the man to drag him into the house. It seemed like an eternity before they finally reached the end of a dark hall and he pushed open a door. Hotch barely looked around the room, his eyes zeroing in on Reid almost immediately. "Reid!" he gasped, realizing he was strapped to an autopsy-like table.

He started to run toward him but a hand on his shoulder stopped him, "Ah, ah, ah." the man said. "You two can catch up later, right now, I need you to go sit down on the bed."

Hotch pressed his lips together and slowly walked passed Reid and sat down on one of the beds. The man unlocked the cuffs and Hotch had to resist the urge to lunge at him, instead allowing him to chain one of his hands to the bed with the restraint that was attached to it.

"Now, Aaron, I want you to think about this the next time you try to do something as stupid as sneaking a gun by me… like, say, escaping." the man said, a devious smile playing on his lips.

He slowly walked back over to where Reid was and looked at him sympathetically. There was a small tray attached to the table that held the black bag he'd had earlier. "I really do hope you remember this Agent," he said over his shoulder, eyes still locked on Reid. "Your actions have consequences on the people you care about." He slowly leaned over, almost deliberately slowly, and reached into the bag, pulling out one of the knives.

* * *

Reid was watching him, fear growing inside of him. He started tugging at the restraints uselessly. Chris was looking at him with a look almost like regret. "This might hurt a bit, but remember that I didn't want to do this."

He sounded sincere, but Reid saw a maniacal flash in his eyes. He was enjoying this. The knife glinted eerily in the light from the fluorescent bulb. "Please," Reid whispered, his eyes glued to the blade as it got closer to him. "Don't do this."

Chris shook his head, "I have to." he insisted again. Reid's breathing picked up pace as he placed the knife against his lower abdomen. His muscles tensed, waiting for the pain. He clenched his eyes shut at Chris pushed the knife closer and it tore through his shirt, piercing his skin and digging in deeper.

He bit the inside of his cheek, grunting in pain but forcing the scream back. He wouldn't give Chris the satisfaction. He pressed the knife into him more than an inch and Reid thought it couldn't possibly get any worse, but then he started dragging it across his stomach through muscle and skin, creating a deep, jagged cut.

He pulled the knife along until he'd gone the whole width of his stomach and ripped it out painfully. There was a creepy smile on his face as he lay the bloody knife down on the tray. "How did that feel?" he asked, looking down at Reid.

Reid groaned and looked away, trying to control his breathing. He barely noticed when Chris undid the restraints. He zipped the bag closed and sighed, staring at Reid for a minute before lifting him up, almost gently, and helped him walk over to the bed. He locked the cuff around his wrist and stepped away from the beds.

"I'll let you two have some time alone." he said after a minute. "I'll be back first thing in the morning though." He looked meaningfully at Hotch before turned and leaving the room. The sound of the lock clicking into place was overwhelmingly loud in the silent room.

It took Hotch a few minutes to speak, staring at the blood on Reid's shirt that was starting to spread. "Reid, are you alright?" he asked.

"I- I'm fine. Just a cut. I'll live." Reid said, wincing. "It could've been worse."

Hotch pressed his lips together, "That's what I'm worried about." he said. He paused again and had to force himself to look at his subordinate, "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault, Hotch. Chris is the once who chose to do this, not you."

"Who?"

"That's what he said his name was. I couldn't get anything else out of him, just that you did something that made him angry, and this is supposed to be punishment for that."

"I don't know him though," Hotch frowned, trying to recall ever seeing the man. He had been doing that for the past few hours. So far he was drawing a blank. Whatever he had done to this man to make him mad must've been something important for him to kidnap two federal agents like this… but he honestly couldn't think of anything at all.

"Hotch?" Reid's voice pulled him back to the bright room.

"What?"

"We're getting out of here, right?" he asked.

"Of course we are. I left a message on the fridge for Jessica. The team is probably already searching for us. They'll find us. I know they will. They are the best, remember?"

Reid smiled, more grateful than he could begin to imagine that Hotch was there with him. He didn't think he could handle this alone. He didn't think he'd be able to remain strong or calm if Hotch weren't there to support him. It was different with Tobias, when he'd been alone. He had hoped the team understood his messages, hoped they would get there in time, but in the end, he'd still had to rely only on himself for strength and it wasn't easy. With Hotch here, maybe it would be a little easier…

Suddenly the lights in the room went out and everything was dark, except for tiny red light on the camera that was in the high corner of the ceiling. Reid forced himself to remain calm. He had been doing a lot better with his fear of the dark recently, but he still wasn't cured and right now, the last thing he wanted was to be in the dark in a room with an autopsy table, being held captive by some man with a grudge.

He slowed his breathing as much as be could and eventually, after hearing Hotch do the same, drifted into the fitful he'd been avoiding.

* * *

**E/N: Urm… Not sure how I feel about this chapter…**

**Was this good or… bad… I have no idea… It feels… crappy to me. Not great. Seemed harder to write than the first chapter…**

**Eh, I dunno… so you guys have got to let me know! Was it awful? Please review!**


	3. The Game

**A/N: So, a ginormous THANKS to all of the wonderful reviewers! I heart you guys! And thanks as well to all of you who added this to alert and favorites! Knowing people are reading this keeps me interested!**

**I'm so sorry for not updating yesterday! It was INSANE and I had so much to do... BUT, I did manage to catch the season 6 premier... and cried watching it! It was so amazingly epica and sad and ... intense... anyways... back to the story**

**WARNING: violence; blood; possible gore; torture; possible mild language… **

**PLEASE REVIEW! Reviews are for me what Edward is to Bella (and Twilight fan or not, you've got to agree that's some intense freakin' addiction!)**

* * *

Ch. 3: The Game

Morgan was staring down at the note Hotch had left on his refrigerator door, frowning in disbelief. How could this possibly be happening? Hotch… kidnapped. The two words just didn't fit right together. He tapped his fingers restlessly against the wood of the table in the conference room, mind spinning around in circles. Not only was Hotch missing, but JJ and Prentiss had called a few hours ago to tell him Reid was definitely gone too… and someone had tampered with the lock on his apartment door. They were still at his apartment helping search for anything that might lead them to the kidnapper.

A light knock turned his attention to the door, Garcia was standing there, her hair messy and yanked back in a lopsided bun. He supposed she didn't spend much time getting dressed, considering it was after midnight when he'd called her and now it was just after five in the morning the same day. She wasn't wearing any makeup and her eyes were red from crying. "I looked through all the past cases… there none that specifically stood out as Hotch and Reid oriented. At least not in a big way… But I - I flagged these as possible anyway." She said, handing him a large stack of files.

He stared down at the folders, nodding. "Thanks Baby Girl," he said, trying and failing to manage a smile. It would've been bad enough with just one of the team missing, but two? It was nearly impossible to smile.

"Let me know if there's anything else," she said, sniffling slightly. "I'm gonna… I'm gonna go make sure I didn't miss any cases, just to be sure."

He nodded and opened the first folder, coming face to face with an armed robber they'd arrested a few months prior. Before he could really start reading through the file, Rossi walked in holding two coffees, "I thought you might need this," he said, putting one of the cups in front of Morgan. "I just talked to Prentiss. She and JJ are on their way back. They didn't find much in Reid's apartment. Prints are being sent to the lab, but if this guy's as smart as he seems, there won't be anything useful."

"Then let's just assume the bastard's human and makes mistakes like the rest of us," Morgan half growled, ignoring the coffee. Rossi just nodded, understanding Morgan's anger. He took a file from the stack and started reading, wishing that there was something more they could be doing.

* * *

They hadn't gotten through very many of the files, even with JJ and Prentiss arriving back, when an agent knocked on the door. He was a young man with blond hair, "Agent Morgan?" he said, eyes searching until they found Morgan bent over a file. "Agent Strauss needs to speak with you."

Morgan blinked and nodded, "Alright," he said standing as the young man let the room.

"What does she want?" JJ demanded, sounding angry. The remnant of tears was still clear on her face.

Prentiss scowled, "Don't we have enough to worry about?" she muttered.

Morgan shrugged, not happy about it, but not wanting to make her angrier by not showing up. He left the team to sift through files and knocked on Strauss's door. "Come in," she called from the other side.

Reluctantly, Morgan opened the door and closed it behind him. "You wanted to talk to me?" he asked, raising a brow skeptically.

"Yes," Strauss said, looking up from the paper work she had been doing, her glasses resting half-way down her nose. "I understand that two of your agents have been kidnapped, is that correct?"

"As far as we can tell, yes." Morgan answered shortly, wondering where this was going.

"Does this mean that your team is the target?" she asked. "Are the rest of you in any danger?"

Morgan scowled. As if he hadn't already considered that option. "It's highly unlikely. If this was an attack on the team, we'd have received threats by now, something to let us know for sure what's happening… and more than Reid and Hotch would be gone. Something else would've already happened."

She pursed her lips together, nodding thoughtfully. "Alright… Well, I have something else I need to discuss with you, Agent Morgan. Your team's Unit Chief has been kidnapped," He resisted the urge to point out that he already knew that. "And since Agent Hotchner is absent… for now, you're running the investigation, correct?"

Morgan hadn't really thought about that, but he supposed she was right. He had been acting Unit Chief when Hotch stepped down before… but this seemed so much different. "I guess," he said, nodding.

"Alright, then, I must inform you that conflict of interest may become a problem."

"What do you mean?" Morgan asked, his eyes narrowing at the woman seated across from him.

"I mean, two members of your team are missing. If you cannot keep your heads together and stay focused, I may have to pull your team from the case and assign another BAU unit to look into it."

"No." Morgan growled, "We can handle this case. We know Hotch and Reid better than anyone, we can figure out any clues they might be able to get us. We _need _to be on this case, ma'am." He added 'ma'am' hastily as he noticed the look of annoyance on Strauss's face.

"I'm not taking you off the case just yet, Agent Morgan. I'm willing to give your team a chance to prove yourselves… but the first slip up, the first sign of things not being done the way they should, and the case is handed over to another team, understand?"

He clenched his teeth together angrily, "Yes, I understand." he said, nodding.

"Good," Strauss nodded, "You can get back to your investigation now."

Morgan kept his jaw tight, nodding his goodbye and leaving the office fuming. How could she possibly say that? How could she think that another team could take this case and solve it? There wasn't a better team to find Reid and Hotch out there! They knew them, they knew the cases they'd worked, they knew the potential suspects better than any of the other teams ever could.

He almost flung the door open to the conference room, trying to take deep breaths to calm his already shattered nerves. "How'd it go?" Rossi asked as he yanked his chair back out and sat down.

"She said she might pull us from the case if we can't stay professional." Morgan said shortly. "But she's apparently give us a 'chance to prove ourselves' before she does that."

Prentiss scowled, "That's not fare! We have the best chance of finding them; she can't reassign the case like that!"

"She hasn't yet," Rossi reminded her. "Let's just focus on actually finding them and worry about Strauss if she becomes an issue."

* * *

Reid and Hotch woke to a bright, florescent light, searing through their sleep heavy eyes. Reid groaned, pain immediately registering in his lower abdomen where Christopher had cut him. "Morning, Agents." their captor said in a eerily cheerful voice. He was grinning at them from the other side of the room as he locked the door behind him. "Did you sleep well?"

Neither of them answered. Hotch gave him an angry glare and roughly pushed himself up, his right arm aching at having been left chained to the bed post all night long. He could tell his wrist was already starting to chafe, but he was more worried about Reid, who's entire front was drenched in blood from the slash across his torso.

"I suppose it might've been a bit uncomfortable," Christopher said after a minute, tilting his head to the side slowly. "Especially for you, Dr. Reid, but then, that was all Agent Hotchner's fault."

Reid winced, the light still hurting his eyes, but said nothing. He knew that the only person to blame was Christopher, but figured that it wouldn't do him much good to argue with him about it, considering the man was currently in control and had some obvious mental issues. "Ah, well…" he shrugged, not seeming to be bothered by the silence. "This morning, the fun really begins." His grin widened. "I can't wait to start our game,"

"Game?" Hotch asked, frowning as he moved toward them and unlocked the cuff on Reid's wrist.

Christopher nodded, "Yes, a game, Aaron. It's a fun little game I invented all by myself," he grinned at him. "I think you'll like this game… but it's very challenging. And if you lose… there are consequences, just like I told you last night."

He stopped talking as he lifted Reid's arm and wrapped it around his shoulder, supporting most of his weight as he half dragged him over to the chair with the chains and forced him into it. "What are you doing?" Reid asked as he locked the restraints around his wrists and ankles to hold him in place.

"I told you," Christopher answered, sitting down in the chair across from him, "We're playing a game. Well… Agent Hotchner and I are… you are just the unfortunate playing piece right now, Dr. Reid." He glanced back at the bed where Hotch was sitting, staring at them, making sure he had a good view of everything.

Smiling, Christopher leaned forward, "I'll take care of the cut after we're done playing for today… it looks like it bled a lot… I might have to give you a transfusion."

Reid's eyes widened in confusion, "How would you do that?" he asked, sounding somewhat worried.

"Don't worry, Spencer." he said, smiling brighter, "I've been trained to do all sorts of medical procedures. I used to work as an ER surgeon…" He trailed off, his face growing dark. "But that's another story. Let's get to our game, shall we, Aaron?"

He smiled again, "This is how the game works… I'm going to ask you a question - riddles, math, whatever kind of question I want to ask - and if you get three right in a row, I'll give you and Dr. Reid here water. Get six in a row right, you get food and water. But if you get one wrong…" he paused for a second, his eyes growing wide with manic anticipation, "Little Spencer will suffer the consequences."

Hotch started to protest, but Christopher continued before he could, "And of course, there are rules, Aaron. You insult me or threaten me, and the game's over. Then, I take Dr. Reid over to the operating table and have some fun carving more scars into him. If you argue with me about an answer, I punish you. Dr. Reid get's a bad enough end of the deal already, I figure you should be punished too…" He grinned. "And if you insult me, argue with me or threaten me, you and Dr. Reid don't get food or water no matter how many questions you get right. Understand?"

Hotch angrily pressed his lips together and nodded. "I understand." he said coldly, glaring at Christopher.

His grin broadened, "Good. Let's get started then… we'll begin with something simple." He paused for a moment, either thinking about what to ask, or just trying to irritate Hotch further. "What is seven times two?" he asked.

Hotch scowled, "Fourteen." he answered, resisting to urge to demand how that was even remotely relevant. He didn't want Reid to be hurt again because of something he'd done.

"Good. That's one correct answer. Hmm…" he paused again, and grinned, "What is the capital of Florida?"

"Tallahassee." Hotch growled, his eyes narrowing. This game was pointless… Then he looked at Reid, who was already pale from blood loss, and stilled his anger. The game was irrelevant, but not pointless… and it was also deadly.

Christopher nodded, "Who were the parents of the Greek god Zeus?"

Hotch scowled, not knowing the answer to that question. He pressed his lips together thinking, remembering several of Reid's rants about Greek mythology… He vaguely recalled something about the parents of the gods being called Titians, but the names escaped him. He cursed inwardly, closing his eyes for a second.

"Tick-tock, Aaron… I'm waiting. Do you know the answer or not?"

Hotch opened his eyes, glancing desperately at Reid, who's eyes were wide and pleading, trying to convey some message that Hotch just didn't understand. He wished Christopher didn't have such a clear view of Reid, then the younger man might've been able to mouth the answer to him… "I -" he hesitated, frowning.

"It's taking quite a while for you to come up with an answer, Agent Hotchner. If you don't know now, you won't know in five minutes. What's it going to be?"

Hotch frowned, trying desperately to remember… wishing that he'd paid more attention in high school World History now. Damn it, what were their names! His gut clenching, he pressed his lips together and gave the best answer that he could, "The Titians…?" it sounded more like a question than an answer.

Christopher grinned, "Ah, no, afraid I was looking for something a bit more specific Aaron. But… since you tried, I'll go easy on Spencer this time. The answer I wanted was Kronos and Rhea." He stood from the chair and walked over the metal table that was still stained with Reid's blood, and grabbed his black bag of torture devices.

He walked back to the chairs and sat the bag down, digging through it for a moment. As he was pulling something out, Hotch spoke, "Don't hurt him," he said, sounded desperate. Reid looked surprised to hear that tone in his boss's voice. "I'm the one who got the answer wrong, hurt me."

Christopher just smiled, "I'm sorry, Aaron, but this is how the game is played. The rules don't change."

Hotch looked like he was about to protest, or maybe say something that would make things even worse, but Reid interrupted him, "Hotch, I'm fine." he said, though his voice was weak and he certainly felt anything _but_ fine. "I can handle it, don't worry."

Christopher grinned, "Oh, how noble of you, Dr. Reid. You know, you may be stronger than I thought." Reid glared at him, but resisted the urge to say anything, not wanting to make him angry. Who knew what he would do if he lost his temper.

He pulled out a pair of silver pliers and dangled them in front of Reid's face, "Have you ever been to the dentist, Dr. Reid?"

* * *

**E/N: So… uh… *cough* What do you guys think? I still feel a little iffy about this story, though I love writing it, once I finish a chapter, I re-read over it and think 'this isn't right' or 'I forgot to do this' Stuff like that. I re-wrote the beginning part three times before I got it to where I wanted it, but I worried I'm not writing Hotch right… grr… that's what I hate about writing a character for the first time. It always feels wrong to me!**

**So… are you guys, uh… angry about the cliffhanger? I mean… well… *cough* Hmm… the sky's a pretty shade of blue today, huh? How 'bout you guys review and tell me what you think? Maybe I'll be nice next chapter… doubtful, but… maybe…**


	4. Chess

**A/N: XD Thanks for all of the wonderful reviews! You guys are amazing! And thanks to everyone who added this to story alert and favorites as well!**

***Ah hem* Uh… So, do you guys think I'm being too harsh here? I mean… I don't think so… but then, I've also been called evil by several of my friends so maybe I'm wrong… My mom said this story was "creepy"… Is it? I guess maybe creepy is a good word for it… though I was going more for suspense…**

**WARNING: violence; blood; possible gore; torture; mild language**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**

* * *

Ch. 4: Chess…

"Do you have anything for us, Baby Girl?" Morgan asked desperately, walking into Garcia's small dark office.

She looked even more frazzled than she had earlier. Shaking her head, she turned to face him. "I did find the security footage from outside Reid's apartment complex… but you never see the guy's face…" she turned around in the chair and hit a few buttons, pulling up the video footage. "Watch," she said, nodding toward the screen.

Morgan leaned closer and saw the parking lot outside of Reid's apartment building. The silhouette of a tall man could be seen walking toward the building and disappearing around the corner. Moments later, he was walking up a flight of stairs and then they saw the figure bend down and do something to the lock, watching Reid's door swing open.

He wasn't inside very long, and when he came back out, Reid was walking directly in front of him so that he couldn't be seen and he followed the same path back out to the darkened parking lot. "He must have a gun," Morgan muttered, watching them drive away in a dark SUV. There wasn't even enough light to glimpse the plates on the vehicle.

"He planned this carefully," Morgan murmured.

"Does that help?" Garcia asked, frowning.

"Yes, it does. But only if we know _why _he planned it. He knew where every camera was, where to park to be unseen, how to get in and out of Reid's apartment without anyone getting a look at his face. He studied Reid… he must've studied Hotch too. He was extremely careful, so what I can't figure out is how Hotch managed to leave that message behind for Jessica." He was talking more to himself now than to Garcia. "Thanks, Baby Girl… I'll be back later," he said, walking out of the office.

Garcia barely realized he was gone. She turned her attention back to the screen, re-watching the footage for the tenth time, trying to find some small glimpse of his face so that they would at least be able to ID the bastard who'd taken Hotch and Reid.

* * *

"Did Garcia have anything?" JJ asked, looking up from the file in front of her. For the past several hours, all they'd been doing was going through case file after case file, trying to find anyone who could fit the vague profile they'd developed for the unsub.

"Just the footage from the security cameras outside Reid's apartment," Morgan said, sitting down. "The guy knew where every camera was, he took absolutely no chances. There's no way to get an ID from those tapes."

"Well, we already knew he'd planned this." Prentiss pointed out.

"But he planned it carefully," Morgan said. "He's been waiting for this a long time… But that note Hotch left has been bugging me. He had Hotch call Jessica, we're assuming, to cover his tracks… but Hotch was able to leave us a note telling us that he'd been kidnapped. How could he have made such a mistake?"

"Maybe the unsub told him to leave the note… And he made Hotch call Jessica to make sure it was found quickly." Prentiss suggested.

"But why would he do that?" Morgan asked, frowning. "It makes no sense. He went to extreme measures to make sure that no one saw him take Reid… there was hardly any evidence at the apartment at all. Why not leave a note there too if he was going to do that? And here's something else… Hotch has an alarm system and always locks his doors, but the alarm was off and his doors unlocked when we got there. Why would he do that? Hotch is careful… ever since Foyet he doesn't open the door until he knows who's behind it. He wouldn't have just let this guy in the house, yet there was no evidence of forced entry…"

"Maybe the unsub used Reid to get Hotch to let him in?" Rossi suggested.

"But how would he do that? Drag Reid to the door with a gun to his head? That's risky, don't you think? Hotch would've done everything he could to keep the unsub out of the house and away from Jack… and to protect Reid." Morgan frowned. "There's got to be something we're missing… Was the note intentional, or did Hotch do that for us?" He twirled a pen around in his hand, frowning.

"One of Hotch's guns was missing too… There's no way the unsub would've let him leave the house with it," Morgan scowled. He felt like his mind was spinning around in pointless circles, trying to come to some conclusion that was just beyond his grasp.

"His ankle holster was gone," Rossi pointed out. "Maybe Hotch managed to slip his gun passed the unsub."

"But how would he do that? Once the unsub got inside the house, there's no way he'd let Hotch alone long enough for him to get his gun, put on his ankle holster and write that note."

Prentiss frowned, her eyes lighting up for a second, "That's it!" she said suddenly.

"What's it?" JJ asked, looking confused.

"The unsub wouldn't have let Hotch alone in the house if he'd been in the house… but the odds of him breaking in are slim and Hotch wouldn't have just let him in… What if the unsub never went inside at all?" Prentiss explained her theory.

Morgan blinked… "Ok… but then, how did he kidnap Hotch without going in the house?"

Garcia tapped gently on the door, her eyes wide and dark from recently shed tears. "Guys," she said, "I was looking through Reid and Hotch's phone records and emails… trying to see if either of them had been threatened recently… Hotch got a call about twenty minutes before his call to Jessica on a disposable cell phone. I checked… it's the same phone that he used to call Jessica and tell her he was working a case."

"That's how he did it," Rossi said. "He called Hotch from the cell phone, told him he'd kill Reid if he didn't cooperate and Hotch had the time to grab his gun and leave us the note before leaving."

"It makes sense," Morgan nodded.

"It's the only possible way he could've gotten Hotch without breaking into the house," Prentiss said, nodding.

"We can't trace the cell phone, can we?" Morgan asked, already knowing the answer.

Garcia shook her head sadly, "No, it's impossible to trace a disposable cell phone."

"Damn." He scowled. "Keep looking through their records, Baby Girl… something's got to stand out somewhere."

She nodded and left the room again, leaving them to begin digging through files once more.

* * *

"Have you ever been to the dentist, Dr. Reid?" Christopher asked, his smile malicious.

Reid swallowed hard, eyes widening with panic as they locked onto the pliers. _Please don't let him do what I think he's gonna do…_ He thought desperately. Chris grinned, "Well?" he asked.

Slowly, Reid managed to nod.

"Then I'm sure you know how painful the process can be if the dentist doesn't numb your nerves properly… I always hated the dentist; what good are they, really? If you ask me, people become dentists if they can't become a real doctor."

Reid's throat constricted as he listened to Chris talk. He wasn't entirely registering his words, considering he was more intently focused on the dangling pair of pliers in the man's hands. "Open wide, Spencer…" Chris said, manic euphoria in his eyes.

Reid pressed his lips together as tightly as he could and shrank down as far into the chair as possible. Chris scoffed, "Oh, you're not scared of having a few teeth pulled, are you?" he teased, grinning. "It won't hurt that much…"

Reid stared at him but didn't open his mouth. Why would he possibly make this easy for him? Christopher sighed, "Spencer, I'm going to ask you one more time to open your mouth, or I'll have to open it for you… and if I do, I'll make this more painful than it really needs to be."

Reid still kept his mouth clamped shut, refusing to obey. After another few seconds, Christopher shook his head sadly and walked back over to his black bag, pulling out a small metal instrument that looked like a clamp with a twisting hinge on it. "Don't say I didn't warn you, Spencer." He said, seizing his jaw tightly and forcing it open. He shoved the small device inside and Reid realized that it was to keep his mouth open when he twisted the small knob and it pried his jaw apart painfully.

He grunted and winced, shutting his eyes tightly. He tried to beg him to stop, but it was impossible to talk with that thing in his mouth. "Now, this will hurt, Dr. Reid, but a little pain never really killed anyone. Well… not all the time anyway." Chris said, leaning forward with the pliers in his hands.

Hotch was watching in panic, wanting to say something but not wanting to get Reid hurt even worse. He had to bite his lip to keep from screaming ever obscenity he knew at the man. When Chris put the pliers in Reid's mouth, he couldn't keep himself from yelling, "Leave him alone, damn it! Hurt me!"

Christopher ignored the comment and grinned. Reid felt the pliers put pressure on one of his molars in the back of his mouth and he winced as the tool gripped either side of the tooth painfully scraping against his gums. Without warning, Chris yanked the pliers back out of his mouth, ripping the tooth from it's home.

Reid screamed and gasped, shutting his eyes again as Chris held up the bloody tooth with a maniacal smile on his face. He could taste the coppery blood in his mouth and tried to spit it out or swallow it, but with the clamp still holding his mouth open he couldn't. All he could do was try to ignore the waves of throbbing pain coming from where the tooth used to be.

Laughing gently to himself, Christopher dropped the tooth onto the metal tray next to the autopsy table and walked back over to Reid. "Now, I was only going to pull one tooth… but since you were so uncooperative, Spencer, let's make it two, shall we?"

Reid shook his head, pleading with his eyes for him to stop, but it didn't seem to phase Chris at all. He put the pliers back in Reid's mouth and this time pulled the molar on the opposite side of his mouth, following the same process as before, only slower and more painful as he pulled the tooth from his gums.

Reid felt tears leaking out of his eyes by the time the metal clamp was removed from his mouth. He coughed and spat out blood on the floor, feeling it run down his chin as he breathed quickly, keeping his eyes clenched shut. "Remember that next time I ask you to do something, Dr. Reid." Chris told him, sitting back down across from him.

"Now, Aaron, shall we continue our game?"

"Are you insane?" Hotch scowled. "He's hurt! Haven't you done enough?"

Chris frowned, "Ah, ah, ah, Aaron, remember the rules? I'll let it slide this time, but in the future, I'll caution you to hold your tongue. Now, let's continue. The game's not over for the day until I've asked ten questions… you've still got a chance to earn food and water."

Hotch scowled but this time just nodded. "Who was the sixteenth president of the United States?" he asked.

Hotch sighed, "Abraham Lincoln." he answered, still wondering why this game was even necessary. It seemed totally irrelevant. Was that all this was to Christopher? A game? It seemed to be more than that… it was revenge. But revenge for what? He had a feeling Chris was building up to something, he just wished he knew what.

Christopher nodded, "What is 13 time 379?" he asked, staring intently at Hotch.

Hotch almost smiled, "Four thousand, nine hundred and twenty-seven." He answered promptly. He and Jack had watched _Matilda*_ just a couple of days ago and Jack had asked him the same question so many times the number was engrained into Hotch's mind.

Christopher nodded, "What is the capital of France?"

"Paris," Hotch answered. Suddenly, he was struck by a strange familiarity. When they did polygraphs on suspects, they asked a series of random questions to set the baseline for truthfulness… this was oddly similar to that, only there was no polygraph.

Chris grinned, "Congratulations, Agent Hotchner, you and Dr. Reid have earned water for today… Now, here's a riddle… What walks on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon and three legs at night?"

Hotch frowned, recognizing the Sphinx's riddle. Everyone knew that… "Man," he answered.

Chris nodded, "What nickname was Mary Tudor more commonly known as?"

Hotch frowned, "Bloody Mary," he answered, wondering why these questions seemed so easy. Then he remembered that Chris had said the questions would be easy… for today. What were tomorrow's questions going to be? He really hoped the team would arrive soon.

"What is the square root of 144?"

"Twelve," Hotch answered.

"And who played The Wolfman in the original version of the movie?" Chris asked.

Hotch scowled, ready to scream at that point. What did any of this have to do with anything? "Lan Chaney." He half growled.

Christopher nodded, "Good… You and Agent Reid get to eat today as well… I'll bring you something in a little while. First, I do believe Spencer needs to have that cut looked at before it get's worse."

He stood and unlocked the restraints around Reid's arms and legs, forcing him to his feet and leading him over to the operating table. Reid barely protested when he pushed him down on top of it and locked his wrists and ankles into place again. He was in too much pain to really argue.

Chris bent over him and unbuttoned his torn shirt, pulling it away from his body to reveal the deep, jagged cut he'd made the night before. Whistling softly under his breath, Chris shook his head and dug around in his bag until he produced what looked like a surgical needle. "This may hurt, but it'll help." he said. "I'll have to get an IV down here and give you a transfusion if you still look this pale tomorrow, but I think you'll be alright."

He bent down over Reid and began stitching the gash closed with quick, precise movements. It did hurt, but not nearly as bad as it had when the cut was made. Reid winced and hissed and clenched his hands into fists, but refused to scream as Christopher worked. After what felt like an eternity, Chris cleaned the blood away and straightened up, replacing the needle in the bag and buttoning his torn, bloody shirt back. "That should do it for now. Try not to move around too much, Spencer, otherwise you'll pull the stitches loose, alright?"

Reid frowned as the restraints were again undone and Christopher helped him over to the bed. "Why do you care?" he asked.

"Honestly?" Christopher frowned. "I don't know that I care… but I already told you, Spencer, I don't have anything against you. You're just a tool right now… You do, however, fascinate me." He grinned. "But we'll get to that part of the plan later, right now, you'll have to settle for being a pawn in a game of chess that I'm afraid you're losing."

* * *

**E/N: Urm… this story is developing strangely, to say the least… Hope I'm doing an alright job with Hotch's character… Anyone else a little creeped out by Christopher? I think he might be my strangest unsub yet… and I've written child molesters for God's sake!**

***Yeah, I love Matilda… sorry… for those of you who haven't seen it, there's a scene in the movie where Mrs. Honey, Matilda's teacher, is teaching multiplication and asks (jokingly) what 13x379 is… Matilda answered 4927... Mrs. Honey had to use a calculator to check, but anyway, I just love that part and have since had the answer to that question memorized (and I was like six when I first memorized it so I figured Jack could too)**

**Don't forget that reviewing makes me write faster! Maybe Christopher will let you in on what the heck he's doing and why he's doing it in the first place!**


	5. Every Little Detail

**A/N: Thanks so much for all of your wonderful reviews! And thanks to everyone who added this to favorites and story alert as well!**

**Yes, for those of you who are wondering, Hotch WILL be hurt in this story. Not sure when that'll start… maybe this chapter, maybe next chapter… dunno. Reid will definitely get the worse end of the deal though…**

**WARNING: violence; torture; blood; gore; mild language … this is a really happy, bright story huh? Oh and there are spoilers for "Damaged", "Profiler, Profiled", "Lucky/Penelope" (only a teensy little mention of it, really), "Demonology" (I THINK that's the name of the episode with Prentiss's friend), AND spoilers for the episode with that choking game… (cannot remember the name to save my life and apparently, my internet doesn't want me to know 'cause it keeps freezing up on me!)**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**

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Ch. 5: Every Little Detail

Chris exited the room where he'd locked Agents Hotchner and Reid after making sure that both were properly chained to the beds. He walked up a narrow flight of stairs and entered a dark room that he'd set up with his surveillance monitors and turned them on.

One of the four monitors showed a live image of the torture room where Reid and Hotchner were lying on the beds. Agent Reid seemed to be in quite a bit of pain, his face screwed up in a grimace as he turned his head toward his boss. The monitor next to that was a live image outside the house - the camera had been installed as a precaution. The other two monitors were recorded videos, one taken the night before of Agent Reid's punishment, the other of the two agents sleeping.

Sitting down in front of the monitors, he opened the logged video and watched the 'game' he'd just played, this time studying Agent Hotchner's face carefully. He was a strong man, but it was clear that watching the other man being tortured was wearing on his patience. It wouldn't take much more for Hotchner to snap.

He grinned, anticipating the opportunity to show the Agent just how much physical pain a person could endure… Until then, he'd just have to settle for torturing the fascinating Dr. Reid.

Suddenly, his grin widened. Why should he limit this game to the two agents he had captured? They'd all had a part to play in Agent Hotchner's grievance against him… And if he played a new game, a different game, with the rest of the team, he'd have an opportunity to hurt _both _agents and speed up his revenge.

The impatience in him won out and he quickly devised a way to bring Agents Morgan, Prentiss, Rossi, Jareau and the technical analyst, Garcia, into the game.

* * *

Garcia was typing away, sending the surveillance footage through every filtering program that she had. She still hadn't been able to come up with a usable image of their unsub. Scowling, she cursed under her breath and hit the keys on the keyboard with more forced than strictly necessary.

A high ding alerted her to a new message and she frowned. The subject line read simply "The condition of your missing Agents". Her face paled and she called Morgan while immediately trying to trace the message. "Hey, Baby Girl," Morgan answered. "God anything new for me?"

Garcia didn't answer for a moment, cursing when she ran into a dead end and realized the email had been sent through three different proxy servers. "I got a message… I - I think it's about Hotch and Reid."

"I'll be there in five minutes," Morgan said, hanging up without a goodbye. Garcia fidgeted and stared at the message, wanting to open it, but too terrified to do so. She honestly didn't know if she wanted to know what was happening to Reid and Hotch at this very moment.

Morgan, Rossi, JJ and Prentiss all whirled into the room looking anxious and hopeful. "Could you trace it?" Morgan asked, frowning.

"No, I tried. This guy knows his way around computers," Garcia explained sadly, feeling completely and utterly useless.

"Open it," Prentiss said, her voice sounding strained. This was the first real break they'd had so far. After hours of doing nothing but looking through old case files and speculating about where the unsub could've taken them, why he had and who he was, it felt good to have something to actually try to _do._

Nodding slowly, Garcia clicked the icon and the message popped up, reading:

"_To the remaining members of the BAU,_

_As I am sure you're aware of, two of you're agents are missing. They have been kidnapped, if you haven't realized that. Agent Hotchner and I have some unfinished business to attend to and the young Dr. Reid is assisting me in my … endeavor. It's fun little game, I wish you could all be here to play it as well… but I didn't really have that much time._

_But why should the rest of you be excluded from the fun? I believe we should play our own game, and you can determine the fate of your fellow agents…_

_I've been studying your team for a long time now, you're all quite fascinating. _

_Agent Morgan with your strangely overprotective, 'macho' behavior… Your fear of intimacy is intriguing… I think it must have something to do with the sexual abuse you suffered as a teenager… I wonder how alone you must've felt, how terrified. And of a man who was supposed to be helping you. Such a tragedy. Is that why you chose to work for the FBI? To put away criminals like Carl Buford? Or was it to help children like yourself?_

_Agent Rossi… you're quite a stubborn man, aren't you David? A stubborn and prideful man. All those book tours, fans… You're like a movie star in the BAU. A lot of people would think that's the reason you came back, but they'd be wrong, wouldn't they? After that last marriage went sour, and the book tours got boring… you wanted to feel like you were doing something again, didn't you? Wanted to prove all those people who said you were too successful to ever come back wrong, didn't you? Or was it that you're not quite as unbreakable, unemotional as you pretend to be? That case you closed a few years ago, with those children's parents murdered with an axe… That must've effected you. Is that why you decided to go back and solve that case? Or was it your pride, telling you that you couldn't let the criminal get away?_

_Agent Jareau, the young mother. On the surface, you seem to be one of the weaker members of the team. More emotional than the men, more fragile than Agent Prentiss… but you're not really that fragile, are you, "JJ"? No, you've got a backbone. You'd have to in order to deal with all those selfish reporters… Does the rest of the team know about your sister's suicide? You were only ten, weren't you? That must've been devastating to a child that age. I can't even begin to imagine. But that's just part of your strength. You can suffer through the sadness and still be there to comfort those who need it. Quite a lot of character, if you ask me._

_And then there's Agent Prentiss… What can I say about you? You're certainly very good at what you do, very determined to be great, to be a part of the team. That's probably because of all the moving around you did as a child. Is must've been hard, being a diplomat's daughter. Traveling to foreign countries and having to try and fit in, when you really knew you never would… Was it that need to be included that drove you to give your virginity away at fifteen? Was that why you got pregnant? It must've been difficult to make the decision to have an abortion at such a tender age… I've never had to face that decision, so I can't really judge. Yet, you don't really seem to need to try so hard. The rest of your team accepted you long ago. You're allowed to mess up, but you just refuse to hold yourself to loose standards. You're a very determined woman, like I said._

_And of course, there's Miss Garcia as well… You are quite different from the rest of this fascinating team. … Eccentric is one word for it, though I believe you're only over compensating for the darkness in your life. It must difficult to care so much about these profilers and be left behind in that small dark office, wondering if one of them is getting hurt by one of the criminals you help them catch. Did getting shot shake your optimistic outlook? It doesn't seem like it has… But perhaps your better at hiding your pain, your regrets and your fears than the rest of the team even realizes? Are you about to cry, reading this and wondering what a man like me could be doing to the two agents who aren't standing in the room?_

_And what about those agents? I guess that brings me back to my original intent of sending this message… Our game… They're both still alive, that much I'll tell. Poor Agent Reid doesn't seem to be having much fun, but I'm sure he'll get over it._

_Now, about our game. I'm going to ask you a question about your agents… One that I know the answer to. If you get it right, I'll give you a hint as to why they're here. If you get it wrong… they'll both suffer the consequences._

_Here's my question: Why has Agent Hotchner never spoken of his father to any of you?_

_I hope you can come up with an answer before two o'clock… that's when I'll be calling. Agent Morgan, be sure to leave your phone on. Remember this, I know every detail of your team's lives. All of you. I know you better than you know yourselves, better than you know each other. Don't think I'll be fooled by your tricks, they'll only make me angrier. Two o'clock, answer the question correctly or your friends will have to suffer."_

The email wasn't signed, but underneath the message was a picture of a cloaked figure holding a scythe. The Grim Reaper… "How…" Prentiss struggled to voice her thoughts.

How did this bastard know so much about them? They'd always said unsubs made the best profilers… but that was insanely accurate, at least for her. How had he known she gotten pregnant at fifteen? She'd only told Rossi about that, and she was sure he hadn't told anyone else. Her own mother didn't even know to this day.

Morgan's fists were tight, his eyes wide in shock. How in hell had this guy known about Buford? How had he known… He felt his breathing hitch in his throat. The unsub had given them all an impossibly accurate profile. It was … scarily on target.

Rossi was the first to speak, his eyes focused on the screen. "Is all of this true?" he asked, looking around at the rest of them. He knew Garcia had been shot, he knew Prentiss had gotten pregnant at fifteen, and the bit about him was true too. But he had no idea JJ had a sister, and he definitely hadn't know that Morgan had been… molested.

JJ, Prentiss and Garcia all nodded slowly, seemingly in shock. It took Morgan longer to respond, nodding his head curtly and not meeting the other man's eyes.

"What are we gonna do?" JJ asked, her voice echoed their own inner turmoil and fear.

"This guy's obviously done he research on us… That mean's he done his research on Reid and Hotch too. He's got to know something we don't." Morgan said. "Has anyone ever heard Hotch mention his father?"

"He died of a heart attack," JJ said, "But… I don't know anything else about him." she frowned. "Maybe we could call Hotch's brother, Sean. Maybe he knows?"

Morgan nodded, "Hopefully," he said. They had all carefully chosen to ignore what the email said about them for the moment. The more pressing issue was Hotch and Reid. "Garcia, can you look up his number?"

She nodded and was about to click off the email when she paused, "There's a video attached to this…" she breathed.

Their heads all snapped back to the screen. "Play it," Morgan ordered, his knuckles tensing on the back of her chair again.

She clicked the link and the screen darkened for a second before showing them an image in a large, brightly lit room. Hotch was chained to a bed in one end of the room, Reid was… "Is that an autopsy table?" Prentiss asked, her eyes wide in shock. Reid was strapped to an autopsy table.

Their unsub, who's face had been conveniently cut from the video, was standing over Reid. The sound quality wasn't the best, but they could make out him saying something to Hotch about trying to sneak a gun by him. They watched in horror as the man pressed the knife into Reid and dragged it across his stomach.

"Oh my God," Garcia gasped and looked away, memories of Tobias Hankel sudden flooding her mind. JJ and Prentiss shut their eyes too, having similar flashbacks of Reid being handcuffed to a small wooden chair in a tiny little shack with a mental unstable serial killer…

Morgan looked incredibly pissed. That was Reid being tortured. His best friend. And the man had the audacity to say this was Hotch's fault. It didn't matter what Hotch had done to make this man angry, it was the unsub's fault and him trying to pass the blame onto Hotch pissed him off.

Rossi looked… like he was in shock. He'd seen the kid hurt before, heard some of the horror stories the others had told him about, like the time he was kidnapped and held for two days. But it was entirely different to see him actually being tortured. And if was almost disheartening to see the look of guilt on Hotch's face as it happened. The look on absolutely helplessness that Rossi was sure he'd only seen once before on the other man's face.

When the video stopped, the screen went black and then a new message popped up, reading _"This only the beginning, Agents. It's going to get much worse."_

Morgan's jaw tightened, "Find Sean's number," he ordered, "We're going to catch this bastard it it's the last thing I do."

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**E/N: Sorry for the lack of Hotch and Reid. That'll be next chapter, I promise! Chris's message took up more room than I thought it would!**

**I didn't really intend for Chris to involve the rest of the team so quickly, but oh well. Hope it wasn't too terrible!**

**Don't forget to review!**


	6. Phone Calls

**A/N: :D Thanks for all the awesome reviews! I loves you guys so much! And thanks to everyone who added this to favorites and story alert! You're all awesome!**

**Sorry for not updating yesterday… I've been getting home from school later and later and hardly had time to type the last chapter of Haunted (WOOHOO! It's finally finished! *tears* Why is it over! - yeah, I'm bipolar -)**

**WARNING: violence; torture; blood; gore; mild language**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**

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Ch. 6: Phone Calls

Hotch glanced over at Reid for probably the thousandth time since Chris had left the room an hour ago. The younger man looked pale, a sheen of sweat glistening on his forehead, and it was obvious that he was in pain. Scowling, he tugged again at the chain around his wrist, not all that surprised when it didn't give even a little.

"Reid?" Hotch finally broke the somewhat tense silence. "Are you awake?"

Reid turned toward him slowly and nodded, "Yeah," he said, trying to manage a weak smile. "I guess Morgan was right about psychos being drawn to me, huh?"

Hotch's lips quirked up into a tiny ghost of a smile. "This one's on me, Reid. You heard what he said, he's just using you to get to me."

Reid frowned, "Hotch, this isn't your fault." he said. "Whatever happened to make Chris want revenge, it's not your fault. Anyone on the team will tell you that."

Hotch sighed and looked away from Reid, clearly not believing him. "This shouldn't be happening." he said quietly. So quietly that Reid was certain he hadn't meant for him to hear it.

"Where do you think we are?" Reid asked, wincing when the stitches on his abdomen pulled painfully.

"Probably still in Virginia. We weren't driving more than a couple of hours… but it was dark and I couldn't see much," Hotch answered, frowning as he thought.

"That's probably what he wants." Reid said, casting his eyes around the room. "He took us late at night and locked us in a room without windows… he's trying to isolate us and make us feel alone."

Hotch nodded, his eyes dark. "But it's not going to work, because you and I both know that the team is searching for us."

"But how long will that last?" Chris's voice shocked the agents as he entered the room, pushing a rolling cart with two bottles of water and food. "There's only so much torture a person can endure before they lose hope, isn't that true?"

He wheeled the cart between the beds and looked between them, an eerie smile on his face. He handed Hotch his bottle of water and one of the plates - a plastic try with a small white spork. There wasn't much on the plate, just some mush that might've been macaroni and a slice of toast and pre-cooked chicken nuggets.

Hotch frowned at the food, but Chris just laughed. "Don't worry, Agent Hotchner, it's not poisoned. Poison isn't quite as … visible for my tastes."

Hotch's frown didn't waver, but he knew Chris was probably telling the truth. He was a sadist; poison wasn't personal enough for him. He picked up the spork with his free hand and experimentally stuck it into the macaroni, slowly chewing the bland mush. It wasn't easy to eat with one hand chained to the bed, but he managed.

Satisfied, Chris turned to Reid. "I'm sure you're in a lot of pain, Dr. Reid, but I suppose that's the point." a strange light in his eyes almost made Reid cringe. "But I guess with those missing teeth, chewing might be uncomfortable… so you get soup." he handed Reid the small plate which held a Styrofoam bowl and a spoon. "Hopefully you'll stop bleeding soon… I do need you alive or this game just won't work."

Reid frowned but took the offered soup and water, feeling weak from hunger. He hadn't eaten much the day before and it was probably after noon by now.

Chris wheeled the small cart out of the way and pulled over one of the chairs so that he was facing the beds and sat down, staring at them. "I sent a message to your friends," he said after a minute. "I'm going to call them in a little less than an hour."

Reid and Hotch stopped eating. "Why did you do that?" Hotch asked, eyeing Chris carefully.

"How much fun would this be without involving the rest of your team, Agent Hotchner?" Chris asked. "I offered to give them a little hint about why I'm doing this if they can answer a question correctly."

Reid and Hotch glanced at each other, frowning. "What question?" Hotch asked.

Chris shook his head, "I can't tell you that just yet, Aaron." he said. "They have to answer the question first. And if they get it wrong… you both will be punished."

Hotch scowled and Reid paled, wondering how much more he could endure before he broke like Chris had said. "Leave Reid out of this. He's not important… if you're so angry at me, hurt me."

Chris grinned, "Don't worry Aaron, I will. But it's tearing you apart inside to see Spencer being tortured, so I simply can't resist doing so."

Hotch scowled and looked like he wanted to say something else. Only extremely strong will power kept him from doing so. He didn't want Chris any angrier than he already was.

* * *

Morgan, Prentiss, Rossi, JJ and Garcia were all in her small office, getting more and more impatient. They only had fifteen minutes left until it was two o'clock and still hadn't been able to read Sean Hotchner. Morgan frowned, once again calling his cell phone. It automatically went to voice mail like it had been doing for the past hour.

"You've reached Sean. I can't come to the phone right now, so leave a message after the beep and I'll try to get back to you as soon as possible." The pre-recorded message spat.

Morgan pressed his lips together and left yet another message for Hotch's brother. "Sean, this is Derek Morgan, I work with your brother. Please call me back IMMEDIANTLY. This is extremely serious. Something's happened and we need your help."

They'd decided not to leave anything about Hotch being kidnapped in their messages. "What was the number to the restaurant again?" Morgan asked, fingers hovering over the buttons as he glanced at the computer screen.

Garcia quickly read the number off to him and he dialed it for what felt like the hundredth time. "Hi, this is Rebecca speaking!" a receptionist answered. "You've reached -"

"I need to speak to Sean Hotchner!" Morgan snapped, interrupting her.

"Oh…" The woman sounded flustered. "Well… Mr. Hotchner isn't in at the moment, can I take a message."

"You're absolutely certain?" Morgan pressed. "He's not in a meeting or anything?"

"No, he usually comes in later on the weekends… not until around three. Why do you need to speak with him? I can give him a message if you like -"

"If you see him in the next few minutes, tell him something happened to his brother and it's urgent that he calls me back at his office," Morgan said, snapping the phone shut before the woman had a chance to say anything else.

"Alright, so apartment again," he muttered. "Let's see…" He glanced at the screen and read the number himself, the rest of the team watching him tensely. It had been a very trying hour for them. Sean just wasn't answering his phone. It was starting to get really annoying.

"Hey, this is Sean Hotchner. Can't come to phone right now, leave a message and I'll try to get back to you." Sean's answering machine picked up on the third ring.

Morgan scowled again, fingers tightening on the phone. "Sean, again, this is Derek Morgan. I work with your brother. We need you to call back at the office as soon as you get this. It could be life and death."

He snapped the phone shut and fell down into the chair he'd abandoned nearly forty minutes earlier, putting his head in his hands. "Are you sure there's not another number for us to reach him at?" he asked

Garcia shook her head, "'Fraid not," she said, doubling checking for about the hundredth time. "Just those three…"

He sighed, "We need to start trying to figure this out beyond just his dad died when he was young." he said. "Why else would Hotch not talk about his dad?"

They all looked at each other, drawing a blank. "Garcia, can't you find anything else on Hotch's father?"

She sighed, "He graduated from George Town, he was a lawyer… he died at forty-seven." She frowned, flipping through her findings. "Honestly, there's not much here, the guy didn't seem to trust doctors 'cause he never visited them… only thing I can tell you besides that is that he had a bit of alcohol problem, his liver was in bad shape too."

Morgan sighed, "Maybe it's just that his dad died young? I mean… Hotch went to George Town, became a lawyer, right? Followed in his footsteps… maybe he misses him?"

"Plus, Hotch is a private guy, he doesn't _like _talking about his family." JJ pointed out, leaning forward.

"I think it's more than that," Rossi said. "This guy seems pretty confident that we won't figure it out. He knows things about that the we don't share with the team. Personal things… this has got to be one of those things."

"Maybe…" Prentiss frowned, her thought only half formed. "Uh, why couldn't Hotch be easier to profile?"

They all smiled for a second. "Because he's Hotch," Morgan said. "Mr. _I-don't-have-emotions-to-speak-of_."

"No, Hotch can be pretty emotional if you hit the right nerve," Garcia disagreed with a shake of her head.

They all nodded, remembering Foyet and everything that had happened the day Haley had died. "So what would make Hotch not talk about his dad?" Rossi mused again, frowning.

"You know, I just think it's his whole family," JJ said after a short pause. "I mean, until that day that Sean showed up to talk to Hotch, I didn't even know he _had _a brother. He doesn't talk about Sean much, or his dad or his mom. He really only talks about Jack…"

They were interrupted by the high pitch keening of Morgan's phone. Eyes wide, they glanced over at the clock and saw the time. Two o'clock on the dot. Looking worried, Morgan reached for his discarded phone and flipped it open. "Hello?"

"Hello, Agent Morgan," a man's voice spoke on the other end. A voice Morgan didn't recognize. "We haven't official been introduced, but that's alright. I'm only calling to find out what your answer is. Why has Aaron never spoken to you about his father?"

* * *

**E/N: A little shorter than the other chapters… but hopefully still good.**

**There was going to be some major whump (for both Reid and Hotch) in this chapter buuuuuuuuuuuuut, I hardly had time to type this up, sorry guys! I promise, chapter seven!**

**Don't forget to review!**


	7. A Father's Sin

**A/N: Thanks for all of your amazing reviews! I'm sorry for not updating yesterday! I officially have NO internet at home and only ONE computer in the school system has access to … which means… I only have the chance to update on Mondays and Thursdays… and that's not a given…**

**BUT, hopefully my internet will be on soon (not making any promises) and this is only going to last for a short while…**

**So, anyways, sorry! I promise you that I am still writing!**

**WARNING: violence; torture; blood; mild language**

**Yeah, Hotch is hurt in this chapter…**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**

* * *

Ch. 7: A Father's Sin

Morgan frowned, his mind racing. They still didn't have an answer to the unsub's question, and if they didn't answer it correctly…

"Well, Agent Morgan? What's the answer? Why hasn't Agent Hotchner ever talked about his father to you and your team?" the man repeated.

"What's your name?" Morgan asked, trying to stall for more time. Garcia was frantically re-checking everything that she'd found on Hotch's father, but still hadn't come up with anything. Robert Hotchner had led a very successful but ultimately uneventful life.

"I don't find that relevant at the moment, Agent Morgan. Just answer the question. Or can you? I highly doubt you know the answer."

Morgan frowned, "Hotch is a private man," he said slowly.

"You're avoiding the question, Agent." he sounded impatient. "Or was that your answer? If it was, it's wrong."

Morgan scowled and finally gave him the half-thought answer that they'd come up with a few moments before. "Hotch respected his dad…" he started, fingers tightening around the phone. "His death effected him, so Hotch doesn't like to talk about his dad."

There was a long, drawn out sigh. "You disappoint me, Agent. I was sure you'd have a better answer than that. I'm afraid you're wrong… which means that your friends will have to suffer."

Morgan growled into the phone, "How the hell do you know that's not true?" he demanded. "We know Hotch better than anyone, especially you."

The unsub laughed, "I disagree," he said. "Because I know Agent Hotchner didn't respect his father. In fact, it's safe to assume that he hated him."

The team glanced at each other nervously, confusedly. "What are you talking about?" Morgan asked.

"You don't know Agent Hotchner as well as you think you do," the man said. "Robert Hotchner was a well respected alcoholic, workaholic lawyer… do you know how he relieved his stress? By beating his two sons. I've seen the hospital records, I know the truth."

They blinked, all looking shocked. Morgan's mouth hung open slightly. "Now if you all will excuse me, I've got to go check on your agents. We'll talk again soon."

There was a distinctive click as the line went dead. Morgan scowled, his fist colliding with the wall. "Damn it!" he snarled, anger glistening in his eyes.

"Calm down, Morgan." Rossi said easily, his eyes dark and his jaw tight.

"Calm down!" Morgan growled. "Calm down! Reid and Hotch are being tortured and you expect me to calm down?"

"We're not any good to them if we lose our heads," Rossi said. "I'm just as pissed as you are, but we need to stay focused on catching this guy and finding Hotch and Reid."

Morgan nodded slowly, taking a deep breath though he still kept his fists clenched. "First thing we've to do is make sure this guy's telling the truth. Garcia, can you get Hotch's medical records from when he was younger?"

She made a face, "It might take a little while, but I'll get them as soon as possible,"

Morgan nodded, "And while you're doing that, get us a list of everyone who could have access to them."

She nodded curtly, "I'm on it, give me… ten minutes."

* * *

Reid and Hotch looked up as Chris came back in the room, a devious grin on his face. A grin that could only mean one thing. The team hadn't had the correct answer. "I just spoke to Agent Morgan," he said, walking over to stand between the beds. "I think I may have upset him… but it's his own fault, really, for not knowing the answer." Chris paused, his eyes sparkling. "Would you like to know what I asked?" His eyes turned down to stare at Hotch. "If you give me the right answer, I'll go easy on Dr. Reid."

Hotch frowned, instantly suspicious. "What was the question?" he asked skeptically.

Chris grinned, "Why haven't you talk to your team about your father?"

Reid frowned, glancing over at Hotch confused. "What?" Hotch growled, anger seething into his voice.

"You heard me," Chris said, staring at Hotch expectantly. "What's more important Aaron? Your pride, or Dr. Reid's well being?"

Hotch scowled, his jaw tight as he fixed Chris with a glare so full of hate, it was almost surprising that he didn't spontaneously combust. "Well?" Chris prompted after a minute.

"My father…" the words caught in his throat and he was careful to avoid looking at Reid.

Reid was watching Hotch, frowning. "You don't have to answer, " he said gently.

Hotch ignored him. If answering the question would make this easier on Reid, then he had to answer. "My father was… abusive."

There was a quiet gasp from Reid on the next bed, but Hotch still ignored him, keeping his eyes carefully trained on Chris, who was grinning widely. "Abusive?" he asked. "That's almost a euphemism, Aaron… I've seen the hospital records - it's amazing what you can get access to working in a hospital - there were broken ribs, concussions… you and your brother both."

Hotch scowled at him but didn't respond. "Did it get worse after your mom got sick?" he asked. "She was only thirty-five."

Chris paused, glancing over at Reid. "It's almost difficult to say who had a worse childhood… you, Spencer or Agent Morgan. Seems a dark past is common in the BAU."

He suddenly grinned, "But I believe it's about time for your punishment," his eyes sparkled again as he looked at Hotch. "And I think it's only fair that you go first, Aaron. Just remember, if you ever try to fight back, Spencer will take the fall."

Still, Hotch remained silent, watching Chris carefully as he made his way around the bed and unlocked the cuff around his wrist, pulling him up by the arm. "Lay down," he ordered as they walked to the bloody autopsy table.

Hotch seriously considered fighting back, but knew with Reid as hurt as he was, even if he managed to incapacitate Chris and get the key, he wouldn't be able to get Reid out of here and he wasn't about to do anything that would make this worse on the younger man. Throwing one glance back at him, he begrudgingly complied and allowed Chris to strap him to the table.

Chris was still grinning, his face bright with anticipation. He pulled his black bag closer and dug through it. Searching for the right tool. "This will hurt," he assured him as he pulled out a large scalpel. "And you should remember, it's only going to get worse."

Still, Hotch remained silent, not wanting to give Chris the satisfaction of a response. He heard Reid protest weakly for the bed, but Chris ignored, his entire being focused intently on Hotch as he undid the buttons of his shirt and placed the blade against his chest.

He pressed it firmly into Hotch's skin, causing him to wince, but he didn't make a sound as Chris dragged the blade across his chest diagonally, right where his heart was, and then repeated the action in the opposite direction to make an X, blood pooling around the wound.

"Simple enough," Chris said, looking down at what he'd done with a smile on his face. "Let's try something a little more… complicated, shall we?"

Hotch's only response was to glare at the man. Reid on the other hand was having a hard time not voicing the screams in his mind. He would much rather be tortured than watch Hotch being tortured.

Chris reached into his black bag and pulled out a small - Both Reid and Hotch's eyes widened at the sight. Chris was holding a blow torch in his hands, grinning widely.

Hotch only barely managed to hold back his protest. "I think that wound needs to be cauterized." Chris said. "Now… typically we don't use a blow torch, but… it seems to be the best method at the moment/"

He gave the torch a few experimental clicks before slowly, agonizingly slowly, he lowered the spurting flame to the red X on Hotch's chest, grinning at the strangled cry that finally erupted from his mouth.

The scent of burning flesh, singed hair and fire soon filled the room and Chris flicked off the torch and lowered the device, his eyes maniacal. Hotch's breath hitched in his throat as the pain began to throb and radiate from the wound. "I hope that was every bit as painful as it looked," Chris said, his voice hard. Hatred finding its way to the surface clearly for the first time. "You deserve it."

He unlocked the restraints and roughly pulled Hotch up off the table, who immediately winced and yanked his arm from Chris's grip. "I can walk by myself," he growled, stumbling his way back to the bed.

"For now," Chris added, cuffing him to the bed. "I wouldn't count on that lasting very long."

He turned to Reid after a moment and grinned, "Your turn."

* * *

**E/N: Uh… yeah, so that's all for now. I hope you enjoyed it!**

**Once again, sorry for the delay, hopefully this won't last too long and I'll be back online officially!**

**Don't forget to review!**


	8. Holding on For How Long?

**A/N: XD I loves you guys so much! Thanks for all of your amazing reviews! You makes me so happy! And of course, thanks to everyone who added this to story alert and favorites as well. You're all amazing.**

**A lot of you think Chris is creepy… I totally agree. He's the creepiest unsub I've written so far. (Creepiest, remember, not most disgusting and hate-able… that's a tie between Malcolm Gregory and Grant Pierce…)**

**Oh, and no, there's never been anything on the show that says that Hotch was abused… I kinda think he was though, just because of that remark he made to Vincent Perotta when he was interrogating him and talking about how some abused kids grow up to be killers… and some grow up to catch them, ya know? And yeah, I made up a name for Hotch's dad too, since I don't remember them ever saying it on the show.**

**Super sorry for the delay! I had no internet and it almost killed me! But, I was right and it didn't last long (only four days… still, it was torture! Thank God my mom can't live w/o her cell phone!) I am back! Woohoo!**

**WARNING: violence; blood; torture; gore; mild language**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**

* * *

Ch. 8: Holding On… For How Long?

Morgan leaned over the back of Garcia's chair, staring at the computer screen anxiously. Prentiss, JJ and Rossi were gathered around behind them, trying not to ask if she had anything yet. It had only been a few minutes, but they were all impatient. Suddenly, Garcia looked up, "I got 'em." she said, pulling up Hotch's hospital records.

She swallowed, "Oh my…" she shook her head, reading. "He was admitted to the hospital when he was four with a broken leg and a dislocated shoulder… plus a mild concussion." She read, her eyes wide with fear and shock. "Less than six months later he was back with two broken ribs and a fractured jaw… his dad apparently told them that he was trying to learn how to ride his bike and fell down a hill…"

Morgan shut his eyes, "God, Hotch…" he shook his head. Taking a deep breath he sighed, "So our unsub wasn't lying. Do you have a list of everyone who had access to these records?" he asked.

"Yeah, but it's a long list," Garcia said. "Pretty much anyone in the hospital had access to the records, and that's officially. Unofficially… hundreds of other people had opportunity to see them if they broke in, or hacked them. If this is guy's any good with computers, he could've just done that. I have a full list of employees who were recently fired or let go that could've gotten the records," she said. "But so far no names are pulling up red flags."

Morgan sighed, "Keep workin' on it, Baby Girl." he urged. "He's got to be somewhere on that list,"

She nodded, "I'm on it." she promised as they left the office.

* * *

Prentiss shook her head, "How could something like that happen to Hotch?"

"It almost makes sense," Rossi pointed out. "Hotch learned pretty early on not to trust people, and his father probably drilled it in his head that emotions were a sign of weakness. It's why he is the way he is."

"But… why didn't he tell us?" JJ asked, frowning.

"Same reason we all keep secrets from each other. Some things are just private." Morgan answered. "Do you think I wanted you to know about Buford? Why didn't you tell us about your sister? Prentiss, why didn't you tell us about what happened when you were a kid?"

JJ looked away from Morgan's stare, "I told Hotch," she murmured.

Prentiss sighed, "I told Rossi." she said a little louder than JJ had. "But you're right… It's not any of the team's business what mistakes we made and what bad things happened to us in the past… Still, this unsub knows about all of that stuff somehow. We've got to start checking into Hotch and Reid's backgrounds. Maybe we'll be able to find something before he decides to ask us another question."

Morgan frowned, "I don't like that idea," he said. "Reid and Hotch's lives should be private,"

"But we've got to know," Rossi said. "It could save their lives, Morgan."

He pressed his lips together, "I know, you're right, but…" he trailed off. "There are reasons we don't share the things this unsubs seems to know. It's painful, and … God, after everything we already know about Reid's life, can we really assume there's not something he's still hiding? And Hotch… isn't it bad enough that we already know one of his biggest secrets because of this?"

"That's the point of this," Ross said suddenly. "The question was an excuse to hurt Hotch, either emotionally or physically… or both. If we got it right, it meant that we'd found out one of his biggest secrets, if we were wrong, he gets to share that secret with us and torture Hotch physically."

"He's trying to destroy the team emotionally, and get at Reid and Hotch physically too?" JJ asked, frowning.

"It fits," Morgan agreed, thinking. "But it still doesn't tell us exactly why he's doing this to them. I mean, why Reid and Hotch? It's got to be something about them…"

"So we need to figure out what it is that made him kidnap them still," Rossi said. "Next time he calls, we need to try and stall him longer and see if we can get him to reveal anything about why he's doing this."

* * *

Reid swallowed tightly as Chris made his way around the bed and uncuffed the chain on his wrist. "Can you walk?" he asked, pulling him up by the arm and noticing his pained wince.

He nodded slowly, "I think so," he managed to say without grunting in pain. God, it hurt. Everything hurt. But he was glad Chris wasn't torturing Hotch anymore. It had been hard to see his boss, the normally stoic and unemotional man that he was, screaming in agony as Chris had burned him with the blowtorch.

Chris nodded and half supported Reid as they walked over to the metal table and he locked the restraints in place again. He studied Reid carefully for a few agonizing seconds, and grinned when he saw his eyes flashing to the blowtorch that still lay there and back. "Don't worry, Spencer." he said, "I'm not going to use the blowtorch on you. Not yet anyway."

Reid pressed his lips together to keep from whimpering. This man terrified him more than any man he'd ever met before, but that didn't mean he was going to completely break down in front of him. After a minute, Chris finally picked up a knife, larger than the scalpel he'd used on Hotch, and slightly smaller than the one he'd used on Reid the night before.

Reid bit his lip when he saw the knife, but still managed to not say anything as he felt the panic beginning to rise inside of him. Chris held the knife in the light for a moment, allowing the bright light to reflect off of the blade and into his eyes, before grinning broadly and walking down to the end of the bed. Reid's heart started beating faster. What was he going to do?

He got his answer when he felt the blade pressed against the smallest toe on his right foot. _Oh God…_ He shut his eyes tightly when Chris murmured, his usual, "This will hurt," He knew it was going to hurt, and he knew begging would only make it worse but he somehow couldn't stop the mangled "Please, don't." from escaping his lips as the sharp tip cut into his skin.

It only took a second, but it seemed to take so much longer as Chris pushed his full strength into the knife and it cut through the skin and thin layer of muscle, past the bone and out the other side. Reid couldn't stop the scream, he tried to, but he couldn't. He screamed and felt the tears starting to fall as Chris laid the knife back in the bag, blood still on it, and picked up the small toe, examining it before dropping it into the small tray where the teeth he'd pulled earlier were. Like they were trophies, which Reid realized they probably were.

He winced when Chris undid the restraints and pulled him up from the table, dragging him back to the bed roughly and cuffing his wrist again. He didn't say another word as he left the room, locking the door behind him.

Hotch swallowed, staring at Reid with such intense guilt he was amazed that he could feel anything else, "Reid?" he asked carefully, wincing slightly. Breathing pulled the bleeding, burned skin on his chest and was more painfully than he wanted to admit.

"Y-yeah, Hotch?" Reid asked, his voice shaking.

"Are you alright?"

"I've been better," Reid said, turning his head slowly to look at Hotch. His wide brown eyes were full of pain, but behind that was another emotion. Pity… no, empathy. "What about you?"

"I'm fine, Reid. You're hurt worse than I am."

"Physically, yes. Psychologically, no." Reid answered. "I - I know you don't want to talk about it… but, still… I'm sorry. About… about your dad."

"It's not your fault, Reid." Hotch told him sternly, ignoring the urge to cry that was almost overpowering him.

"I know, but… but I feel like I should say something. I … had no idea that your dad…"

"I doubt anyone besides Sean does. I don't talk about it. It's not something I want to talk about." Hotch said, staring up at the ceiling.

"I understand." Reid said quietly, falling silent. He chewed his lip for a moment, trying hard not to think about the throbbing pain in his abdomen, foot and mouth that seemed to radiate throughout his entire body.

After a minute, he spoke again. "How close do you think they are to finding us?"

Hotch looked over at him, frowning. "If Chris told them about my dad… about the hospital records… they would've checked them, and he'll probably be on a list of people who had access, so I'd say they're getting closer."

Reid nodded, wanting very much to stay positive. The team was looking for them, that was enough for him to want to hold on as long as possible. But how long would his resolve last if Chris kept finding new reasons to torture him? "I wish there was some way we could get a message out to them…"

Hotch nodded, "But even if we could, we don't know much about this guy anyway."

"We know you're the target," Reid said, not intending for the words to sound as harsh as Hotch took them. "I mean -" he stuttered, "What I meant was that… they probably don't know why he's doing this, but we at least know that he kidnapped us because he's angry at you about something and thought that torturing me would be a good punishment… not that any of this is your fault, it's not. But… that's just what Chris is telling us." He was starting to stumble of his words, trying to find a way to say what he was saying without making Hotch feel guilty about it. "And… and we know he said his name is Chris. I mean, it's not helpful if that's not actually his name, but still… it's something."

Hotch pressed his lips together and looked back up at the ceiling, nodding. "It is something. But the odds of us getting a message to them aren't exactly in our favor."

Reid sighed, nodding. "True, but it helps to think that maybe we could try."

Hotch had to agree with him there. It was much easier if he could pretend there was actually something he could do to help make this whole nightmare end, instead of being honest with himself and admitting that there was pretty much nothing he could do but wait, hope the team found them and try to keep Reid from being hurt too much. So far, he felt like he was doing a shitty job of all three.

* * *

**E/N: Great, now I'm making myself feel all depressed because Hotch is being all guilt-ridden. Stupid Chris, I'm gonna make sure you rot for this!**

**Anyways, hope you guys like it! Oh, and I'm seriously considering raising the rating to 'M' soon… not 100% sure just yet… what do you guys think (Oh, did I forget to mention the torture will most likely be getting worse? Uh… sorry… *winces*)**

**Don't forget to review!**


	9. Facinated

**A/N: Thanks so much for the awesomely awesome reviews guys! I love you all so much! And of course, thanks to everyone who added this to favorites and alert, you're awesome too!**

**YES, for all of you who seemed to be in shock, I DID cut off Reid's toe… Why? Because it had to be done. Because I'm a sick, twisted, evil person. Because Chris is an evil sonofabitch and wanted to do it. Take your pick of any of those answers…**

**And trust me on this, it's only going to get worse. Chris is unfortunately right about that…**

**WARNING: violence; blood; torture; gore… ya know, everything that's needed in a good, stomach-twisting story…**

**Still not sure about raising the rating… HELP!**

**PLEASE REVIEW! I'm begging you guys! Help me reign Chris in before he does something REALLY drastic!**

* * *

Ch. 9: Fascinated

"So what reasons could our unsub have for kidnapping Reid and Hotch?" Morgan mused again, trying to get some new, tangent thought from somewhere that would give him the answer to this entire mess.

"Revenge," Prentiss said, frowning down at the files on the conference table.

"Obsession…" Rossi said, "It's why Foyet when after Hotch."

"I thought he went after Hotch because he hated him." JJ said, looking confused.

"It was a combination of hate and obsession," Morgan said. "He hated Hotch, but he was fixated on him, which is why he _had _to do everything he could to rip his life apart and watch everything in Hotch's life be destroyed. He did the same thing with the other detective who originally worked the case."

"Well, if this is revenge, or obsession, it still doesn't totally make sense for him to take both Reid and Hotch. I mean, he'd have to be obsessed with both of them, or want revenge on both of them. It would make more sense from the revenge perspective if he'd taken the entire team, or at least tried to." Prentiss said, her face thoughtful.

"But instead, he took Hotch and Reid and is trying to play some sort of sick game." Rossi nodded. "So is this just about Reid and Hotch? Or the whole team?"

"What if -" Prentiss paused, frowning for a second.

"What?" Morgan asked.

"Well… I was just thinking… what if this is only about one of them? Either Reid or Hotch, and he took the other as a way to get to him? Toying with us is just an added bonus…" she continued.

"Hmm, that could be it…" Rossi nodded. "But, that still leaves us with the question of why. Is it revenge? Obsession? Something else? And which on of them is he actually fixated on?"

JJ sighed, "Why does it feel like we're going around in circles?" she asked no one in particular. "It seems like we have a lot of theories, but we just keep coming back to the same unanswered questions."

Morgan sighed, "Unfortunately, you're right. We need him to reveal something about why he's doing this. Garcia should be able to get us a list of suspects from the hospital… we can cross-reference that with the files and see if anything pops up."

Rossi nodded, about to say something when Morgan's phone started ringing. The four agents tensed, staring at the small device before Morgan flipped it open and put it on speaker. "Hello?" he asked.

"Agent Morgan?" an breathless and anxious male voice answered. "Is that you?"

"Yes, I'm Agent Morgan… who's this?"

"Sean Hotchner… you called about my brother, right? What happened? I'm sorry I missed your calls… I didn't realize my phone was dead and I was at my girlfriend's apartment…" he trailed off for a second. "Is Aaron ok? What happened?"

Morgan sighed, biting his lip. "We're not really sure. He was kidnapped last night." he answered. "And we… we got a phone call from the kidnapper -"

"What did he want? Ransom? Or -"

"No, this isn't about money, Sean. This is something personal, we think. He asked about your father." Morgan said, closing his eyes against the telling silence on the other end of the phone line.

"Our dad? W-why did he ask about him?" Sean finally managed to speak again, his voice shaking.

Morgan took a deep breath, "This man seems to know a lot about Hotch - Aaron's past. He wanted to know if we knew… what your dad did to you and your brother."

"So… so this guy … he wants to hurt Aaron? This isn't like that Foyet guy? I mean, that was less than a year ago and … who's taking care of Jack? Jessica?"

"Yes, Jessica is taking care of him." Morgan assured him. "Don't worry about that. We are going to get your brother back, Sean. Just… just make sure you keep your phone on and charged so we can reach you if we need you again."

"No… I'm taking the next flight out there," Sean said. "I'll be there as soon as I can."

"You don't have to -"

"Listen, Agent Morgan, this is my brother. We might not always see eye-to-eye, but Aaron's a good brother and he did everything he could to protect me. It's my turn. I'm not gonna sit here wondering what the hell is going on. I'll be there in a few hours." He didn't bother saying goodbye, he just hung up.

Morgan sighed, but had to admit, Sean being there might be helpful… as long as he didn't get in the way.

Prentiss shook her head, "It's almost scary how alike those two are…" she murmured.

* * *

Hotch wasn't sure how much longer it was before Chris returned to the room. Long enough for the pain to go from intense throbbing, to a lower, aching sort of throb. Chris only glanced at him though, which he thought was odd. Usually, Chris seemed totally focused on him, even when he was torturing Reid he would throw glances back at Hotch to make sure that he was watching.

This time was different. Chris zeroed in on Reid, who was sleeping, fitfully if his half-coherent mumbles were anything to go by, on the bed next to him. He smiled a tiny smile and walked over to Reid, pushing an old wheelchair with him. "What are you doing?" Hotch demanded when he stopped between the two beds.

Chris looked at him, frowning down at the agent. "I need to have a private conversation with Dr. Reid." he answered.

"Private conversation?"

"Yes, Aaron, private. That means you're not allowed to hear it." Chris said, turning back to face the still sleeping Reid.

"I know what it means," Hotch snapped, growing angry. "Why? Haven't you done enough to him already?"

"I said it was a conversation. I hardly think that can harm him… not physically at least. He'll be back. And besides, you're the reason he's here in the first place. Maybe you should be blaming yourself." Chris remarked angrily, still not turning around. He unlocked the cuff around Reid's wrist and shook him roughly.

Reid jerked awake, his breathing hitched. "Well, thank you for joining us, Spencer." Chris grinned down at him. "I need to have a little talk with you… so, if you would please get in the chair."

His eyes fell on the wheelchair sitting between the beds and he frowned. "A talk?" he asked nervously.

Chris sighed, "Yes, Spencer, a talk. I promise, as long as you cooperate, I won't hurt you, ok? Just get in the chair… or do you not remember what happened the last time you neglected to listen to me."

Reid pressed his lips together, the throbbing in his gums seeming to stand as an answer to the question. He sat up slowly and felt Chris catch his arms, helping him settle into the chair before locking the leather restraints on the arms around his wrists. "We'll be back soon, Aaron, don't worry!" Chris called cheerily over his shoulder as he wheeled Reid out of the room.

* * *

Reid remained silent as Chris pushed him down a narrow hall, past a large staircase and into a dark room lined with bookshelves. It must've been a library at one point. He pushed him up to a leather arm chair with a small window behind it. From the window Reid could see that the sky was already beginning to darken with the after-effects of sunset. It was later than he'd thought it was…

Chris sat down in the arm chair and studied him for a long moment, "You know, Dr. Reid, you can relax. I already told you I'm not going to hurt you as long as you listen."

Reid hadn't even realized his muscles were so ridged with fear and anticipation. Slowly, he forced himself to relax and frowned, "What's going on?" he asked.

"I want to talk to you…" Chris said, smiling at him still. "I… I like you, Spencer." He almost laughed at the look of fear that flashed through Reid's eyes when he said that. "Not like that, I assure you. It's just that you… you fascinate me. I honestly decided to take you because of that, more than because of Agent Hotchner's protectiveness." His smile faltered slightly when he said Hotch's name.

"I know more about you, and the rest of your team, than anyone else could possibly hope to know, Dr. Reid. I know every single dark secret you have. That all of you have. It's amazing how much you learn about people when you… study them the way I've studied your team." He paused.

"I'd wager there are even things about you that I know that your mother doesn't even know… but then, she doesn't know much anyway, living in that sanitarium, does she?"

Reid flinched, but couldn't really come up with a response to that question. Chris hadn't been kidding, he'd definitely done his research on him.

"Yes, I know about your mother." Chris said, answering the unasked question in Reid's eyes. "I know about your father leaving you, about the bullying you suffered as a child, about you drug habit."

Reid flinched again, shutting his eyes. "Wh-what drug habit?" he asked nervously. He'd never even actually admitted it to the team that he had a problem with drugs. They all knew, of course, but the only person he'd ever _told_ about it, besides the people in his NA meetings, was Morgan. He knew they all knew he'd had a problem, but… but to hear this man, this complete stranger say that he knew… it was unsettling.

Chris grinned, "Don't play dumb, Spencer. I know you did. I've seen the track marks from relapses, even watched you show up at Agent Morgan's door step in tears because of it. I know everything."

Reid felt like his heart was being squeezed by some strange and invisible force. He'd seen… but the last time he'd shown up at Morgan's house like that had been several months ago. Nearly a year, honestly. He hadn't even used that time, he was just… struggling. It had been two years since he'd actually used at all… How long had Chris been planning this? Had it been that long, or had he just done a lot of research?

"I told you, I've studied you. I even know about what happened on that football field that day when you were twelve. _Everything _that happened that day…"

Reid paled… No, he couldn't know that. He'd never told anyone about that. He'd told Morgan most of what had happened, but … but no one knew everything that had happened. No one except for him and Brandon Thomas.

Chris nodded, an eerie light in his eyes again. "Yes, I even know about that Thomas boy." he said, confirming Reid's worst fear. He started to sweat slightly, but still fought to keep his composure. "I'm simply fascinated by you, Dr. Reid." he paused, sighing heavily.

"It's a shame I have to kill you."

Reid felt his heart stop. "What?" he managed to choke out.

"I'll keep you a live for a while longer, but eventually, I'm going to kill you, Spencer. It's exactly the kind of thing that Agent Hotchner deserves. I want to watch him suffer when he loses someone he cares about and know that it was completely his fault. Then I'll let him go, so that he can live with the pain and guilt."

"B-but -"

"Of course… I really don't want to kill you." Chris said, staring intently at him. "It seems like such a waste. So, I'm going to give you the option… I'll let you live, but you have to do something for me. Something important."

Reid frowned, "What do you want me to do?" he asked skeptically.

Chris grinned widely, "I won't kill you, I won't harm anyone else on your team, or any of Aaron's family… and I'll even let him go once this is all over." he started slowly.

Reid could feel the 'but' that was coming, and was almost certain he didn't want to hear it.

"But," Chris said, deliberately slowly. "You have to stay here with me. I get to keep you."

Reid's eyes widened. He swallowed thickly, "Keep me for what?"

Chris smiled sadly, "I've always liked to experiment… and you're just so interesting anyway. I hate being alone up here, so once I get my revenge on Agent Hotchner, I'll let you live if you agree to stay here and … assist me in my… experiments."

"You mean… be a guinea pig?" Reid asked, panic causing his voice to break slightly.

"You could put it that way," Chris said, nodding.

Reid frowned, "And… if I don't, then you kill me, but Hotch still lives, right?"

"Of course, Aaron will live. And I will kill you. But, I'll also kill Aaron's brother…"

"What?" Reid's eyes widened.

"If you don't stay, I'll kill you and Sean Hotchner." Chris repeated bluntly. "So, what's your choice, Spencer?"

* * *

**E/N: So… uh… yeah… before you people start freaking out on me about this, just remember that I will NEVER kill off a major character. EVER.**

**BUT, I will torture them to the point of death and insanity. Just sayin'.**

**And no… this wasn't planned, it just happened 'cause Chris is, as I sad, a sick SOB and just WANTED to do it.**

**Don't forget to review!**


	10. Past Torments

**A/N: :3 Thanks so much to everyone for all of your reviews! I love you all so much! And of course, thanks to everyone who added this to favorites and alert too!**

**I think we've established that I'm a sick and twisted person… so what more could I do to these two amazing Agents? **

… **you'll see…**

**WARNING: torture; violence; blood; gore**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**

* * *

Ch. 10: Past Torments

Morgan stared down at the file folders that Garcia had just handed to him and the rest of the team. One was marked "Aaron Hotchner" the other "Spencer Reid". They contained all the information she had come up with in the past couple of hours. Everything from their birth certificates, to their last credit card purchase… He felt incredibly guilty for digging into their lives like they were about to. He knew how much he hated the team going through his records when he was arrested in Chicago… but this was important, like Rossi had said. They needed to know this to be as prepared as possible for whatever their unsub decided to do next.

"It makes me feel… dirty… to do this," JJ commented as she frowned down at her own copy of the files.

"But we need to know this… it could give us some leverage with the unsub." Rossi pointed out, flipping open the top folder - Hotch's folder. The rest of them reluctantly followed his example, opening the file to see what was inside. Garcia sat at the table, her laptop open in front of her, still working on narrowing down the list of potential suspects from the hospital where Hotch's records had been.

"Oh my God," Prentiss gasped, her eyes falling on a picture of Hotch at age 10. It had evidently been taken for hospital documentation… The skin around his ribs was bruised and discolored grotesquely and it was obvious that he'd been hit with something similar to a baseball bat. "How the hell did his dad cover this up?"

"He didn't take Hotch and Sean to the hospital every time, and when he did, he had a good explanation." Morgan muttered, his eyes burning. "Robert Hotchner was a prosecutor, remember? He went to law school and everyone respected him. Why question a man like that?"

JJ shook her head, flipping past the pictures. She'd seen plenty of abused children in the past, but just knowing that the little boy in the photos was Hotch made it worse. Made it impossible for her to even glance at them. She blinked, not sure she was reading right. "Hotch went to a juvenile detention center when he was 13?" she asked incredulously.

"What?" Morgan's head snapped up, and then back down as he flipped the pages of the folder in front of him.

"He got in a fight at school with another boy who was threatening his brother," Rossi read. "The school had a zero tolerance policy… Hotch and the other boy, Jason Clark, were sent to juvenile detention centers and expelled. He was there for a year, and enrolled in a different school the next fall."

"He never told us about that." Morgan frowned.

"Why would he?" Prentiss asked, raising a brow.

"He got all over my ass because of an arrest that was expunged and he's been keeping _that_ a secret?" Morgan scowled. "How's that fair?"

"He's your supervisor," Rossi pointed out. "It's his job to know about your past arrests; it's not your job to know about his."

Morgan sighed, realizing he was right… but still wanting to be angry. He wanted someone to direct his anger at and their unsub wasn't there for him to let it out the way he really wanted to. "It looks like the abuse got worse… Hotch was only 19 when his dad died of a heart attack and he was seven when his mom was diagnosed with cancer. She only outlived his dad by a year." he shook his head. "Even if she'd wanted to protect him, it wouldn't have been easy with her that sick."

Prentiss smiled slightly, "He graduated fifth in his class at Georgetown," she noted. Then she laughed, "Did you guys realize his middle name is Eugene?"

Garcia almost laughed from across the table. "I did. I know _all _of your middle names."

Prentiss frowned, "Really?" she asked skeptically.

"Of course," Garcia nodded. "Yours is Anne. Boring."

"Oh, really?" Prentiss asked, raising a brow. "What's _your _middle name then?"

Garcia grinned, "Renee," she answered. "My middle name is Renee. Rossi's is Richard, Morgan's is Anthony, JJ's is Michelle, and Reid's is Matthew*."

"Could we focus, guys?" Morgan asked before Prentiss could say something else. "We don't know when the unsub is going to call us; we need to be ready."

Prentiss cleared her throat nodding, "Right… he married Haley less than two years after graduating high school. Wow, he was barely twenty. Jack's almost five, so … they were married for a long time."

"They'd still be together now if his job hadn't gotten in the way," JJ said almost absently.

"After that, there's not much. He doesn't exactly have much of a social life, and once his parents died, Sean was the only person who connects him to his past." Rossi said.

"What about Reid?" Morgan asked, opening the second folder and looking inside.

"Born in Vegas in 1980," Prentiss said, looking at the copy of his birth certificate. "You know, his parents are still legally married." she frowned. "William didn't divorce her, he just left."

Morgan scowled, "He was a coward, it's what they do." he said coldly.

"God, these test scores are … amazing." JJ murmured. "Not that I didn't expect that from Reid. He started high school when he nine… almost ten. Skipped from fourth grade to tenth."

"Must've been a big change for the kid." Rossi mused.

"And his dad left not long after that." Prentiss frowned. "Poor Reid…"

"Are these _all _the reports the school filed about him being bullied?" JJ asked, frowning at the large group of papers.

Garcia nodded, "All the ones I've been able to find."

"Good God," Prentiss said, shaking her head. "These kids were brutal. He was locked in a locker once for almost four hours before custodians found him…"

"What happened to the kids?" JJ asked.

"Detention. One day of detention." Morgan growled, staring down at his copy of the report. "What the hell was wrong with that school system?"

"He was sent to nurses office once with a broken finger… and a black eyes. He told the principal that a boy named Tyler Everhart did it, but 'witnesses' said that Tyler was innocent and nothing ever happened." Rossi read. "And that's only the first time he was hurt. Another time a boy named Brandon Thomas found him locked in a storage closet naked… apparently some senior football players thought it would be funny to leave him there. Brandon tried to tell them what happened, but he wasn't there so they didn't believe him."

"At least he tried," Morgan muttered. His mind automatically went back to what Reid had told him that day in Owen Savage's bedroom about Harper Hillman and Alexa Lisbon and the football team. He had thought it was bad then, but to realize that it wasn't a one time thing made it worse.

He flipped through the pages of report after report until he found the end of the long section and got to Reid's acceptance into CalTech. "He started working on his first doctorate when he was thirteen," he said, a tiny smile on his face. "At least once he got to college people were more mature."

"Hard for them to be less mature," JJ muttered angrily. It made her sick with anger to think that kids - teenagers - could do some of the things she was reading to a child. Reid had been ten, they were all sixteen and seventeen years old. What the hell kind of sick bastards were they?

* * *

Reid stared at Chris, pale, sweating and in shock. He'd kill Sean too? He chewed his lip, thinking hard. He didn't want to die. He didn't want Sean to died. And he certainly didn't want Hotch blaming himself for his death, which he surely would do if something happened to him. But, he also did not want to stay in this house, with Chris and be… experimented on. The very thought sent shudders down his spine. And he wasn't sure how much he trusted Chris. So far the man seemed… honest. But it was only for his benefit. Reid had a feeling he'd lie if it would get him what he wanted.

He licked his lips nervously, "How do I know you're telling the truth?" he asked.

Chris smiled, "I'm an honest man, Dr. Reid. And if I go back on my deal… you don't have to keep your end of the bargain either."

He nodded slowly, closing his eyes for a moment. "Ok… ok." he took a deep breath. "If you let Hotch go… if you don't hurt his brother… I'll stay."

Chris's grin widened. "Excellent." he said. "That's exactly what I wanted to hear. I knew you were a reasonable man, Spencer. I knew you'd make the right choice."

"It wasn't much of a choice," Reid muttered.

"Well, that was the whole point, now wasn't it." Chris said, shrugging nonchalantly. "Now… let's see… that gives me a week to finish my revenge on Agent Hotchner."

"A week?" Reid asked, frowning.

"If you had said no, it would be two weeks," Chris explained. "But since you said yes, that's one week. Fair trade, I should think. I'm being generous."

Reid sighed, chewing his lip. "Oh, and a couple more things, Spencer." Chris said, pausing to think for a second. "Don't say one word about this to Aaron. If you do… believe me, I'll cut off something more important than a toe."

Reid flinched, the very thought of what those words entailed causing pain. "I won't tell him." he promise.

"Good." Chris nodded. "I own you now, Spencer. Remember that; you are mine."

Reid didn't like the sound of those words. They made his stomach churn sickeningly, but he fought to keep his composure. As long as Hotch and his brother were alright, that's all that mattered, right?

"And one last thing…" Chris smiled. "I'm calling your team again in the morning with a new question." he started. "Answer me honestly, or I'll make sure Agent Hotchner pays for it… have you told _anyone_ about what happened that night on the football field when you were twelve?"

Reid swallowed, memories flashing quickly through his mind. "I - I told Morgan about… most of it." he said in a shaky voice.

"Most of it?" Chris asked, frowning. "What about Brandon Thomas?"

Reid fought to keep from flinching, "I - I never told anyone about that." he half-whispered. "I don't like to… think about it."

"I can imagine not." Chris said, nodding slowly. He glanced down at his watch, "I think it's about time you and Aaron got some rest… We've got another full day ahead of us tomorrow." He stood and walked around behind the wheel chair, pushing Reid around and out of the room.

* * *

Hotch was starting to get worried. He didn't know how long it had been since Chris had taken Reid, but he knew any amount of time was too long. Reid was in this mess because of him. Because of something that he'd done. He didn't know what he'd done, but whatever it was, he was starting to wish he hadn't done it.

He'd been staring at the ceiling for the past however many minutes and was starting to get angry again. Where the hell was Reid? Chris had said he wasn't going to hurt him, but he didn't trust the man to keep his promise. He could be doing anything to Reid and Hotch wouldn't able to help. Not that he was much help anyway, chained to the bed like he was.

He nearly to the point of screaming in frustration when the door opened and Chris walked in pushing a shaken-looking, but unhurt Reid, along in front of him. Without a word, he undid the restraints on the chair and relocked the cuff around Reid's wrist before leaving, taking the chair with him. He called a cheerful, "Good night, Agents!" over his shoulder as he locked the door and the lights suddenly went out again.

"Reid?" Hotch whispered hoarsely. "Reid did he hurt you?"

"N-no. I'm fine." Reid's reply was shaky and uncertain. Hotch wondered what had happened.

"You swear? He didn't do anything to you at all?" Hotch demanded, not relenting.

"No, he didn't. I'm fine. He just… talked."

"About what?" Hotch asked, frowning.

"About… about me. He said he was fascinated by me. That he liked he…"

Hotch felt his heart skip, "He didn't -"

"No, he didn't _touch _me, Hotch. He doesn't like me that way… at least, that's what he said." Reid answered, hearing the unasked question in Hotch's mind.

"Good…" Hotch said. "I'd probably try to kill him if he even thought about that." He heard Reid shift in the bed and frowned again. "What about you did he talk about?"

"My past…" Reid answered. "T-The bullies at school… stuff like that."

"Oh." Hotch said, his curiosity dying. He understood Reid not wanting to think about any of that right now. He leaned his head back against the pillow and sighed. "Let's just… get some sleep, alright, Reid? Maybe we'll have something figured out in the morning."

In the darkness, he couldn't see Reid's answering nod, but he knew the young man well enough to know it was there. He heard Reid murmur a quiet, "Good night," just before the younger man's breathing evened out. He shut his own eyes and forced himself to relax as much as possible. He and Reid were going to make it out of this. He'd be damned if he let Chris win this sick little game of his.

* * *

**E/N: HA! Looks like I got to update after all. :) Ah the powers of pizza, Iron Man 2 and boredom XD**

***Yeah, I made up all of their middle names, put a lot of thought into it actually… And Matthew just felt right for Reid. I love the man Spencer, I love the name Matthew, put 'em together and AWESOMENESS! (and yeah, I was thinking about MGG when I did that…)**

**So… no real whump in this chapter, but trust me, it'll be back soon…**

**Don't forget to review!**


	11. Appendicitis

**A/N: :3 Thanks once again to everyone who reviewed! I love you all! And of course, thanks to everyone who added this to favorites and story alert! You guys rock!**

**Hmm, so I'm hoping that in this chapter you'll find out who Brandon Thomas is… and Sean should arrive at the BAU. Plus, the suspect list…**

**WARNING: torture; blood; mild language; gore - rating is now officially raised to M to be safe…**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**

* * *

Ch. 11: Appendicitis

Morgan took a long drink of bitter coffee and made a face as he sat down at the conference table the next morning. "God, this stuff is disgusting."

"Then why do you drink five cups a day?" Prentiss asked, yawning. It was barely seven in the morning and none of them had gotten much sleep the night before. It was nearly midnight when they finally left the office, angry that they still hadn't found a decent lead to follow on the bastard. Hopefully he would call again… and they were prepared.

Rossi, Garcia and JJ entered a few moments later, dark circles under their eyes, coffee cups in tow. "Have we found anything?" JJ asked, taking a seat next to Prentiss.

"So far, no." Morgan muttered. "I was up half the night re-reading through old cases, but nothing is jumping out at me. Of course, I was barely functioning at four am, so that could be part of it."

"It would be easier if we knew exactly what this guy wants from them." Rossi pointed out. "So far, we know nothing except that he's extensively studied all of us."

Prentiss was about to say something else when the door to the conference room suddenly burst open and a ragged, angry looking Sean Hotchner stood in the doorway for a long minute. "Agent Morgan?" he asked, frowning over at Morgan.

He stood, nodding. "You're Sean, right?" he asked.

"Yeah… have you heard anything about my brother yet?" the younger man demanded. He didn't look much like Hotch, but one glance at his eyes was all Morgan needed to know that he was definitely Hotch's brother. There was a dark, angry cloud behind those eyes and he knew the man would kill someone if it meant saving his older brother.

"Not yet," Morgan said. "We're working on it. If the unsub's working with a pattern, he'll call us back today with another question…"

"Another question…" Sean frowned, "About Aaron?"

"We're not sure. If it is about Hotch, you would definitely be helpful." Rossi said.

Sean pressed his lips together, glancing over at Rossi. "And you are?" he asked.

Morgan spoke before Rossi could, "This is the rest of the team, David Rossi, Emily Prentiss, Jennifer Jareau and Penelope Garcia." he said, pointing them out as he introduced them.

He nodded slowly, "Wasn't there another guy on your team?" he asked.

Morgan bit his lip and glanced down at the files scattered across the table before answering, "Yeah, Reid. He was kidnapped too."

"What? This guy took _two _of your team?" Sean frowned. "Who the hell is he?"

"We don't know yet… we're trying to figure that out. Do you know anyone who would do this to Hotch - Aaron?"

Sean snorted, "Plenty." he said. "He's an FBI agent, and he was a prosecutor. He made enemies."

Morgan sighed, "We know… but there's not any one person that stands out?"

Sean shrugged, "We're not exactly close… Agent Morgan. Aaron's a great brother, but… after dad died, and then mom… and he went to Georgetown… we drifted apart. He - well, to be honest, he was more like a father than a brother already, and once I moved to New York we didn't see each other that often, I got busy, he was already busy. I haven't seen him since Haley's funeral."

Morgan nodded slowly, sighing. "Ok, well, we'll let you know if -" the high pitched keening of his phone cut him. All eyes stared at the phone, tense. Morgan flipped it open and pressed the speaker button. "Hello?" he asked.

"Hello, Agent Morgan." the unsub's voice increased the tension in the room. "So good to hear your voice again… you know, Spencer and Aaron really miss you. You'd have been a little closer to finding them if only you'd answered the question correctly. Maybe today will be different."

Morgan bit his lip, "What question?" he asked slowly, eyes shooting up to Sean for a second, whose jaw was tight, his eyes on fire.

"Yesterday was about Agent Hotchner and his poor, troubled past. Today… today is about Dr. Reid and … well, his more than troubled past…"

"What's the question?" Morgan growled, getting angry.

"Ah, ah, ah, Derek. Keep that temper in check. You wouldn't want to say something that would make me angry, would you?" the unsub taunted. Morgan's fist tightened when he called him 'Derek'.

There was a short pause and he spoke again, "Much better. Now… here's the question, and this time you have to answer as soon as I ask it… What do you and Agent Reid have in common?"

Morgan blinked, completely thrown by the question. "What?" he frowned.

"It's not a complicated question, Derek." the unsub said. "You. Spencer. What makes you similar. And no, it's not that you're both in the FBI and 'lost' your father's when you were ten."

Morgan scowled, his jaw clenching. What the hell was that question supposed to mean? He and Reid were best friends… but what did they have in common besides those two things? He wracked his brain, thinking back to the files he'd read the night before. Reid had been bullied severely, was a genius, his father abandoned him… he was socially awkward, shy and kinda nerdy. Morgan had been arrested for 'aggravated' battery, lost his dad when he was 10, was molested by Carl Buford for years, wasn't the smartest kid in school, but he was smart, definitely wasn't shy… and there was no trace of nerd in him. They were pretty much polar opposites if he really thought about it.

"Tick-tock, Derek, I'm getting impatient." the unsub said, breaking the silence.

"I…" Morgan sighed, his chest feeling heavy. He cast his eyes around at the rest of the team, pleading silently for their help. But they all looked just as confused as he did. Finally, he gave up. "I don't know." he said, hanging his head, feeling guilt crush down on him. He couldn't help but feel like he'd just signed Hotch and Reid's death warrants.

The unsub chuckled, "I knew you wouldn't. Agent Reid already told me he never told anyone."

Morgan scowled, his head snapped up at the mention of Reid.

"Though, I was hoping you could at least guess. How can you call yourself a profiler…?" he paused for a second. "He said he told you about what happened that night on the football field… when he was tied to the goal post naked."

Morgan flinched, ignoring the gasps from JJ, Garcia and Prentiss and the angry grunt from Rossi. "He did." Morgan said slowly, "He - He said I was the only person he ever told."

"You are… but I knew about it anyway. From a very reliable source… Brandon Thomas. He was about seventeen at the time, Spencer was twelve, I believe. Dr. Reid said that he didn't tell you what part he played in that incident…"

Morgan frowned, "What part did he play?" he asked, his stomach already spinning nauseously.

"Brandon watched what the other's did to him, and then he came back later that night to untie him, after everyone else was gone… I'm sure that's all Spencer thought he was going to do… but, Brandon had other … motives."

Morgan's throat constricted… _No…_

He could hear the smile in the unsub's voice. "Instead of simply untying Spencer and helping him get home, Brandon raped him." he said, the frankness of his tone like a knife to the team's hearts. "Apparently, he liked younger boys." the unsub continued. "Lucky for Spencer, Brandon was expelled not long after that for having drugs on school grounds… _That's _what you and Spencer have in common, Derek. You were both raped as children."

Morgan shut his eyes, tasting the bile rising in the back of his throat. "I suppose I'll have to think of easier questions to ask if you're ever going to get one right… We'll talk later, I have some business to attend to right now." There was a click and the line went dead.

Seconds later, the phone slipped from Morgan's hands and he practically flew out of the room and down the hall to the bathroom.

* * *

Leaning over the toilet in one of the stalls, he vomited, feeling the sweat beading on his forehead. That sick bastard… His fist clenched and he dry heaved, his stomach protesting against the memories. Tears were burning behind his eye lids, but he refused to cry. He would not let this break him.

He heard the door opened and stood slowly, his legs shaking. Turning, he expected to see Garcia, or maybe Prentiss, instead he blinked and stared at Sean Hotchner, frowning. "Are you ok?" the younger man asked, the hateful fire that had been in his eyes before almost totally extinguished.

Morgan nodded slowly, "Yeah… I'm fine."

Sean frowned, "I - What he said… was it true?" he asked, staring him right in the eyes.

"About me? Yeah. About Reid… I don't know yet."

Sean nodded, thinking. "I remember Aaron talking about you, well, about all of you honestly, but you especially because you're the one who took over when he stepped down." he frowned. "He said… he said you were probably one of the most complicated people he'd ever met."

Morgan looked surprised, "He said that?"

"He also said that you were one of the strongest people he knew… which is why he picked you to be unit chief." Sean continued, nodding.

Morgan raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"I guess I understand why he thought that now…" Sean frowned. "You know, whenever people used to talk about my dad, about how wonderful of a person he was, I got sick too. I got angry and sick and wanted to just scream at them for being so blind…" he paused. "But Aaron… Aaron never seemed to let it bother him. He just ignored it and pretended they were right. He was always the person who kept me stable, who looked out for me." Suddenly, Sean's voice cracked. "You've got to find him, Agent Morgan. Find him and the bastard who did this."

Morgan nodded slowly, "We will, Sean. We will."

* * *

Reid and Hotch were awake, not being able to get much sleep with all the pain, when Chris walked into the room the next morning, a bright smile on his face. "I just spoke with Agent Morgan," he announced. "I think he hates me. But, that's not really my concern." His eyes roved over the two agents. "He didn't answer the question correctly…" he shook his head, almost looking sad, but the fiery light of anticipation in his eyes gave him away.

"I asked him what he had in common with you," He said, his eyes falling on Reid. "He said he didn't know."

Reid paled, instantly knowing the answer.

"Care to enlighten Aaron, Spencer?" Chris asked, grinning. "I'll make this time easier for him if you do."

"Reid, you don't have to." Hotch said, seeing the strained look on Reid's face

"Shut up, Aaron." Chris snapped, glaring at him, before turning his eyes back to Reid.

Reid bit his lip, his voice quavering when he spoke… "I - Wh-when I was…" he paused and cleared his throat, tears starting to form in his eyes. "When I was ten," he started again. "One of the older boys at my school…" he bit his lip again and deliberately looked away from Hotch. "One of them… raped me." he whispered.

Hotch shut his eyes, wanting so badly to reach out and hug Reid and tell him it would ok. He turned his eyes toward Chris, who was grinning broadly again. "What the hell is your problem? Reid never did anything to you, why are you torturing him like this?" he demanded.

"Because I can, because I want to and because it hurts you." Chris replied, staring at him for a long minute. "And I do believe that it's Dr. Reid's turn to go first this time." he said, walking over and unlocking the cuff around his wrist.

He dragged Reid over to the table and strapped him down to it, smiling again. He reached into his bag and pulled out a syringe full of some unidentifiable substance.

"No, don't…" Reid gasped, his eyes widening at the sight of the needle.

Chris laughed, "Don't worry, Spencer, this isn't a narcotic. It's a muscle paralytic. I need you totally still for what I'm about to do, otherwise, you could die, and I don't want that just yet."

Reid swallowed… Biting his lip. "But don't worry, this just keeps your muscles from moving… you'll be able to feel everything." Reid felt his heart speed up as the needle was pressed into the crook of his left arm and Chris emptied it's contents into his bloodstream.

It was almost instantaneous, the strange numbing sensation flooding throughout his blood as he felt the terrifying effects of the paralysis settling over his muscles. His mouth felt heavy as he tried to open it and protest. No words would come out.

Chris pulled the needle out and sat it aside, leaning over and unbuttoning Reid's shirt again to reveal his already scarred torso. He inspected the stitches first to make sure none of them had come undone, and then his picked up a scalpel, making sure it was sterilized before pressing it against the lower right area of Reid's abdomen. He felt the area briefly with his fingers and then, without warning, shoved the knife in as deep as it would go.

Reid tried to scream, would've screamed if his mouth and throat muscles would've allowed him too. As it was, all he could do was widen his eyes and feel tears starting to burn. Chris tutted softly under his breath as he ripped the knife out, "It seems you have a bad case of appendicitis, Dr. Reid. I'm afraid I'm going to have to operate."

* * *

**E/N: Yeah… so, how 'bout that, huh?**

**I changed the rating because of what's going to happen in the next chapter (trust me, it's ain't pretty) Hopefully this wasn't TOO terrible for anyone's taste, I've definitely read worse…**

**Don't forget to review!**


	12. Snapped

**A/N: Yet ANOTHER enormously, gargantuan thanks to all of the awesome reviewers! XD You guys are amazing! And of course, thanks to everyone who added this to favorites and story alert! You're awesome too!**

**Sorry for the delay! It wasn't my fault! My dad's a jerk. That's all I'm gonna say on the subject.**

**So, where was it that we left off? Oh, right… Reid's "operation"…**

**WARNING: torture; violence; gore; blood; mild language**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**

* * *

Ch. 12: Snapped

Reid felt his heart start hammering in his chest. Operate? No. _No no no no no no!_ His eyes were wide with panic, trying to plead with Chris to stop. He fought against the drugs, trying to shake his head in protest but his muscles just wouldn't work.

He followed Chris with his eyes, nervous. He picked up a smaller knife and made a longer, thinner cut across the jagged stab wound, pulling the skin apart with deliberate slowness. Reid winced, his breathing speeding up and starting to feel constricted. He tried to block out the massive waves of pain as Chris started cutting through the muscle.

He glanced back to Reid's face, grinning at the pain that was so clearly displayed in his eyes. "I know this must be painful for you, Dr. Reid." He said calmly, continuing to cut into Reid's skin, grinning wider still as tears started to slide down the side of his face, eyes wide with silent horror.

"Stop!" Hotch said in the background, yanking at the cuff on his wrist until the skin broke and blood trickled down his arm. "If you're mad at me then hurt me!" He could actually feel his resolve breaking as he watched Chris digging into the bloody wound. Watched him perform _surgery _on Reid while he was still conscious. He could hear slight whimpers and grunts coming from the younger man and knew that if it weren't for the drugs, he'd be screaming in agony.

Chris just ignored him and continued what he was doing. It seemed to take forever to Reid before Chris finally straightened up, pulling a glass jar full of some liquid closer to him, and dropping the damaged appendix inside. He wiped the sweat from his brow, the white latex gloves he had been wearing smeared with bright red blood. If he'd been wearing scrubs, he would've looked like the surgeon he claimed to have been once… but as it was, he just looked like the psychopath that he really was.

Bending forward again, he took his time to slowly stitch up the incision, humming some foreign tune as he did so. By the time he'd closed the last stitch, the paralytic was wearing off and the pain was beginning to increase as Reid's muscles were loosened from the hold the drug had on them.

Chris stripped the gloves from his hands and tossed them down next to the bloodied scalpel and sighed, "That certainly took a while," he said, grinning broadly to himself. "You know, it's been a few years since I've performed an appendectomy. It's good to know I can still do it."

Reid's voice shook badly when he finally managed to talk, "W-why are you doing this?" he asked, probably for the thousandth time.

Chris just shrugged, "I thought you were a genius, but I seem to keep repeating myself. Agent Hotchner is why I am doing this. He probably still doesn't know what he did, effectively dragging this whole ordeal out."

Hotch felt anger boiling in his chest, "How the hell am I supposed to know what I did to you, if I don't know who you are?" he demanded angrily.

Chris scowled, the strange eerie calm that usually surrounded him when he was torturing Reid gone in an instant as he glared at Hotch with all the hatred he kept pent up inside of himself. "Perhaps you should pay more attention, then Agent." he snapped. "Because I'm sure if you did, you'd know who I was. But you didn't. You are very singled minded bastard, you know that? You only cared about yourself. Only about you, not about the family you could've hurt, not about anyone left behind who could've possible _cared_… You took something from me, and I'm going to make sure you know what that feels like."

Hotch growled, knowing it wasn't smart to antagonize this man, but his anger got the better of him. He was tired of listening to Chris tell him that this was all his fault. Whatever he had done, whatever 'crime' he'd committed against this psycho, he knew it couldn't be anything compared to what he was doing to Reid and him. "I do know what that feels like," he snapped. "Better than you. I've held the lifeless body of the woman I loved in my hands and knew that I could never hold her again. Never see her again. I know far better than you could possibly imagine, what loss is. You're the one who doesn't understand it. You couldn't possibly understand that kind of pain."

Chris's eyes were suddenly very dark. Clouded over with such and intense amount of hate that Hotch almost, _almost, _flinched. But he didn't. He met the man's glare with one of his own and waited for what would surely come. "You… you think…" Chris didn't actually seem to be able to form words any more, his anger so intense. "You think I don't know what that feels like!" he suddenly screamed, his face livid. Hotch didn't know how he'd gotten next to his bed so quickly, but he was standing there, staring down at him with that intensely angry glare. "You think I don't know what it means to lose someone before they should've died! To have someone you cared about die at the hands of someone else! .!" he yelled, emphasizing each of the words with a vicious punch to the face, sending Hotch's head whipping to the side.

"You killed him, you bastard!" he screamed, still slamming punches into Hotch. He lifted his free arm to try and block the blows, but it wasn't much help, because Chris grabbed the arm and twisted it painfully. "You think I give a damn about you ex-wife!" he snapped. "If you loved her so much, why'd you let her walk away? No, you don't know what it feels like, and you have no goddamn right to tell me that I don't! It's your fault that I do!"

There was an animalistic rage burning behind Chris's eyes. The anger, the hatred, the bitterness that he'd been holding back all suddenly coming to the surface, spewing over in the brutal beating. Hotch didn't scream, he refused to scream, but he had to bite down on his lips to the point that they were bloody to stop himself. He swung his aching, twisted and probably broken arm at Chris, but missed and winced as another punch hit him in the side of the head.

He wasn't sure how long the beating continued, how long Chris let his unchecked anger overflow, but eventually, he stepped back, his knuckles bloodied, his breathing harsh, and just stared at Hotch. Pressing his lips together, he took several deep breaths and walked back over to the table where Reid was still laying. He stared down at the younger man for a long minute, "I believe, Agent Hotchner, that Dr. Reid will have to pay for that outburst." he said, his voice just as calm as it had been before he'd snapped.

Hotch winced, pain radiating through his entire body, but he didn't say anything. Not this time. His breathing was ragged and painful as he stared across the room at Chris and Reid. He knew if he argued or said anything it would only make things worse, so he kept his mouth shut, regretting everything he'd just done. He felt tears burning his eyes, but did all that he could to hold them back, not wanting to give Chris the satisfaction of seeing him cry.

Reid was pale and sweating already, still aching and in a massive amount of pain, when Chris leaned over and wiped the stray tears from his face. "I wish I could tell you that this won't hurt… but that would be a lie, so just remember whose fault this is, Spencer."

Reid bit his lip, sorely tempted to say "It's your fault." but not willing to risk more torture. He was already in so much pain he didn't think it could really get much worse. Instead of reaching into his black bag, Chris walked over to a small closet like door that was in the farthest north corner of the room. Reid hadn't noticed it when he first walked in.

He pulled out a machine that was on a wheeled cart similar to the one he'd brought them food on the day before. Rolling it over next to the table, he flipped a couple of switches on it and reached over, attaching two electrodes to Reid's chest and a metal clamp to the end of each index finger. "Have you ever heard of ECT, Dr. Reid?"

* * *

Morgan sighed as he slumped down in the chair at the conference table, taking a long drink of the bitter coffee to wash out the taste of vomit. Sean sat at the far end of the table, looking lost in thought as the profilers went through the long list of potential suspects. "We've got ten names now, right?" he asked, staring at the thankfully diminished stack.

"Yep," Garcia confirmed, "Just ten names. Richard Dowd, he's the cousin of Philip Dowd, remember him?" she asked, meeting Morgan's eyes across the table.

Morgan and JJ both nodded, "Yeah." they said, looking slightly angry.

Rossi and Prentiss, however, looked lost. "Who's Philip Dowd?" Rossi asked.

"He was a LDSK… with a hero-homicide complex." Morgan explained. "It was a case from a few years ago… Reid and Hotch were taken hostage by the guy in the hospital, Hotch managed to gain his trust, and… Reid took him down."

"Wait, wait, wait, _Reid_ took him down?" Prentiss asked. "You mean, arrested him or…"

"Shot him," JJ answered. "Right between the eyes."

"Whoa. Didn't know the kid had it in him." Rossi said, looking surprised.

"Reid's full of surprises," Morgan said quietly, shaking his head.

"How did Richard have access?" Prentiss asked, looking to Garcia, frowning.

"He worked as an intern at the hospital for a few months a couple of years ago…" Garcia said. "And then there's Kevin Dunn, the son of Frank Dunn, who Hotch shot about two years ago. Jonny Arnett, brother to … Lacey Sears, one of the female serial killers, right?" she looked up, frowning. "You guys make a lot of enemies, you know that."

"Baby Girl, just keep reading." Morgan said, smiling slightly as he pulled a file closer to him. "Wait, who's this? Christopher Brant? I don't remember working a case with that name."

Garcia typed the name in, "Oh, Christopher Brant… hmm, you didn't actually work a case apparently… he was a relative of… someone…" she frowned, typing again. Then gasping. "Oh… He… he changed his name when he was adopted, but…" she swallowed. "His name before…" she trailed off, staring at the screen. "Oh my God!" she gasped, her typing stilled.

"What?" Prentiss looked up frowned, "Garcia?"

"He… he's… but how?" she frowned.

"Garcia, what? Who is he?"

She shook her head, mouth hanging open and simply turned the laptop around to show them a mug shot that had popped up on her screen. There was a collective gasp as JJ's coffee cup slid from her fingers and crashed to the floor, shattering, Morgan blinked several times in shock, Rossi stared at the picture, acting like he couldn't quite comprehend it, and Prentiss sat with her mouth gaping open. It couldn't possibly be… could it?

* * *

**E/N: Ha ha! I'm not gonna tell ya yet! XP**

**Yeah, so… this chapter veered slightly off of where it was supposed to be… so, in the next chapter… you guys will probably find out just who this bastard is. I'm amazed I managed to not tell you sooner, considering that normally I have this issue of being highly impatient and wanting to blurt it out in chapter 1... But this time, I've actually been forgetting that you don't know yet and I'm like, "Oh yeah, they're still in the dark…"**

**So… urm… yeah, call me evil. I don't care. Hopefully I'll also be able to get Brandon Thomas in for an 'interview' with Morgan when they try to verify Chris's statement. Should he fun… hehehe**

**Don't forget to review!**


	13. ECT

**A/N: So… How 'bout those great cliffhangers huh? (look, you peoples have GOT to stop threatening me! I'm getting scared for my life!) Lol, so, thanks to all the fantastical reviewers! You guys rock! And of course, thanks to everyone who added this to story alert and favorites! Y'all are awesome too!**

**Uh… hmm… *cough* … what are you people looking at me like that for? Oh… you wanna know who the unsub is… well…. What if I say TOO DAMN BAD? Nah, I wouldn't do that to you guys…**

**WARNING: violence; torture; blood; gore; language and in this chapter… MENTIONS OF RAPE OF A CHILD!**

**PLEASE REVIEW! Seriously, if you guys wanna see Chris decapitated, castrated, electrocuted, shot, beaten and just otherwise tortured… you gotta review!**

* * *

Ch. 13: ECT

They all stared at the photo on the screen, not willing to believe it. "How… how are they related?" Morgan asked, his voice sounding hollow and distant.

"They're cousins… err… were cousins." Garcia said. "They… they actually lived together for several years; Christopher apparently supported him, right up until…" she trailed off, frowning again.

"But I don't remember ever seeing this before." Prentiss said, frowning. "We went through his entire past… how…?"

"The name change." Garcia explained. "He popped up with this search, but not before because he changed his name and we never even knew he had a cousin to speak of." she shook her head.

They all shook their heads, still not believing that it was really possible that Christopher was related to… _him._ But he was. He was his cousin. The face on the screen was staring back at them. Almost taunting them. George Foyet.

JJ swallowed, "So… this guy… he's Foyet's cousin?" she asked brokenly.

"That's what it looks like." Garcia nodded.

They all shifted eyes at each other, avoiding looking at Sean altogether, who was sitting at the end of the table looking absolutely livid. "Do we think he's our unsub?" Prentiss asked.

"He was an ER surgeon before he was fired eight months ago for… for being caught looking through sealed records at the same hospital where Hotch's records were kept." Garcia said, reading.

"Sounds like it," Morgan said, his fists tightening.

There was a knock on the door and an Agent walked in with an older man with pale blond hair and dark eyes. "Agent Morgan? This is, uh, Brandon Thomas. He said you called him here?"

Morgan's eyes darkened. "Yeah, I did." he said, his voice hard. "Come with me, Mr. Thomas. I've got a few questions for you."

* * *

Morgan sat down across from the blond man, anger filling up his entire being. His mind was already spinning with the realization that Foyet had a psychotic cousin… and now he was sitting face to face with the man who had raped his best friend when he was a kid.

"Mr. Thomas, do you remember a kid named Spencer Reid?" Morgan asked, noting how Brandon stiffened and sat up straighter.

"N-No." he answered, his voice shaking.

Morgan sighed, glaring hatefully at the man. "Look, I don't like you. In fact, I hate you. But… you do know that the statute of limitations is up for that, right? You can't be arrested for it. I just… need to know what happened. If anything happened."

Brandon shifted uncomfortably… "The… the statute of limitations is up?" he asked nervously.

"Yes. I can't charge you with anything." Morgan assured him, hating that it was true. Wanting more than anything to punch the bastard in the face.

Brandon swallowed hard, "I… I remember Spencer. He was… he was a good kid." he said quickly.

"What happened on that football field, Mr. Thomas?" Morgan asked, resisting the urge to beat the man senseless.

Brandon swallowed again, "Uh… I… I saw what those other kids did to him, they… they took his clothes from him and they tied him to the goal post and… and they just… they were so cruel to him." He sounded outraged for a second, then he frowned and looked down at his hands. "I waited until they were gone and I went up to him and… and I untied his hands…"

"And?" Morgan prompted, scowling.

Brandon licked his lips… "And I… I don't know why I did it," he looked up at Morgan with teary eyes. "I didn't mean to, I swear! But… but looking at him, so… so weak and… hurt and I just… I could stop myself… I probably… no, I did hurt him more than they did. I r-raped him. God… he - he was only a kid and I…" he trailed off. "I didn't mean to, I swear! And I've never touched another kid since or before… but… I just…" he broke off and started crying them.

Morgan glared at him, not one ounce of sympathy in him. "You're right about one thing, Mr. Thomas. You definitely hurt him more than those football players did. What you did to him… it was sick and twisted." He stood from the chair, glaring down at him. "I really wish I had something to charge you with so you could go to prison and know just what that feel like, you sick bastard." he growled. "But I don't. So get the hell out of here and hope you don't ever see me again."

Brandon nodded, jumping quickly from the seat and running out of the room. Morgan watched him go and then let his hands fall into his hands again, feeling sick. It felt like everything was just falling apart… How could it possibly get any worse?

The door to the room opened again, "Agent Morgan?" the same agent from before was standing there. "Agent Strauss wants to speak with you."

* * *

Reid swallowed hard, "ECT?" he said shakily. "You mean… electroconvulsive therapy?"

Chris grinned, "Yes, that's exactly what I mean. Of course, normally, electrodes are place on the temples… but I don't want to do too much damage to your brain." he leaned down closer, whispering so that Hotch couldn't hear. "That wouldn't be very helpful for my later… experiments."

Reid bit his lip, "Please… don't do this."

"Agent Hotchner needs to learn that his actions have consequences." Chris said, "But I'll start off on a low voltage… It'll still hurt, but then, that's the point."

He reached over to the machine again and flipped a switch, then he leaned down and put his hand on a small knob. "Please, don't." Reid begged, tears dripping down his face. He didn't think he could take much more of this. Chris ignored him and slowly twisted the knob.

Suddenly, his entire body arched off the table, a gut wrenching scream erupting from his lips as pain coursed through him. Then it stopped and he lay there, panting and in tears, his throat raw from the scream.

Chris chuckled, "And that was only the lowest setting…" he said, smiling. He twisted the knob again and the pain was back. He screamed again, his muscles starting to twitch as the electric currently flooding him was cut off again and he feel back onto the table. Not only did he hurt from the electricity, but he hurt from the increasing pain in his gut, the throbbing pain in his foot and the aching pain in his mouth.

His back arched again as Chris twisted the knob, grinning. Everything started to get fuzzy as he crashed back down onto the table. The bright light over his head was beginning to swim in his vision and Chris's laughter and Hotch's groaning were starting to sound muffled and distant. Where was he? He couldn't remember. Then he stopped trying to remember as pain shot through him a hundred times worse than before. He didn't want to remember. Where ever he was, he was in pain and he didn't like it.

He welcomed the darkness that started to inch into his peripheral vision as he crashed back onto the table again. Begging for the darkness as sobs began to wrack his body and he could remember how to ask for the pain to end. He screamed again as the voltage was turned back on and he lurched upward, tears flowing faster, sobs increasing. He feel back down onto the table and shut his eyes as the darkness engulfed everything and his head slumped to the side. At least in the darkness, there was no pain.

* * *

Hotch bit his lip to keep from screaming at Chris again. Right now his head was spinning and everything hurt, but he wasn't focused on that. He was focused on Reid. God… Reid… He couldn't survive much more of this. It wasn't fare. It wasn't right. And he couldn't help but think that it was all his fault.

He shouldn't have yelled at Chris. He should've just kept his mouth shut. If he had, Reid wouldn't be going through this right now. He winced as he watched Reid's body lurch upward on the table for the fourth time. He heard Chris laugh and scowled.

How the hell could the bastard be laughing at this? It wasn't funny… it was terrible. Yet Chris was laughing, watching it as if it were some sort of sick entertainment. Which, Hotch realize, to him it was.

He breathed a sigh on relief when Reid finally passed out on the table and Chris removed the electrodes from his body. Stopping to examine the electric burns now covering Reid's chest and fingers, Chris bandaged them and re-buttoned the younger man shirt, unlocking the restraints around his wrists and ankles.

He carried the unconscious man back to the bed and locked the cuff around his chaffed wrist before turning to face Hotch. "I believe it's your turn now, Agent Hotchner…" he said, grinning broadly.

* * *

**E/N: YAY! I got to update today!**

**Uh… not so ya… I actually almost cried writing that torture scene! Laura, I have a ? How in the name of GOD do you keep guessing what I'm gonna do? Seriously… it's starting 2 scare me a little… lol… (yeah, im tlking about ur review)**

**So, uh… Chris. Foyet's cousin. Yeah.**

**I couldn't really make him his brother, 'cause the team surely would've caught that when they all the checking on Foyet before, but a cousin who changed his name? Seems like maybe they coulda missed that. And trust me, cousins can be VERY close. My cousin Savannah (aka Kevin) is like a sister to me so I know what I'm talking about. Foyet and Chris were like brother… see why Chris is so pissed? Yeah, me neither. How the hell could you love a guy like George Foyet… I guess, if you're a guy like Chris it works…**

**Don't forget to review!**


	14. Escape?

**A/N: :3 Thanks for all the reviews! Over 200? Seriously? You guys rock! And thanks to everyone who added this to favorites and story alert too! I love you guys!**

**Well… Now you know, Chris is Foyet's cousin. Now the team knows. Question is… will that help them? Hmm… you'll see… (FYI: I'm a sick and twisted person, there is more torture on the way!)**

**WARNING: violence; torture; language; blood; gore**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**

* * *

Ch. 14: Escape?

Morgan sighed, straightened his shirt and walked down the hall to Strauss's office. Clenching his jaw, he knocked and waited for her to say "Come in," before opening the door and walking inside. She was frowning at him, her lips a thin angry line on her face. "Agent Morgan, have a seat." she said, nodding toward the chair across from her desk.

Reluctantly, Morgan sat down and stared at her, refusing to speak. "I understand that you've pulled both Agent Hotchner and Agent Reid's records, correct?"

"Yes -"

"Why?" she interrupted him.

He gritted his teeth, "Because the unsub called us asking questions about their pasts. We wanted to be as prepared as possible."

She nodded slowly, "And did it help?" she asked.

"Not yet." He half growled, glaring at her.

"I was also told that Agent Hotchner's brother -"

"Sean." Morgan said quickly.

"Sean," Strauss added, frowning again. "Was in your conference room. Care to explain?"

"Sean knows Hotch better than the records do. If the unsub asks us a question about Hotch, he'll most likely know the answer. He's also Hotch's brother and wants to be here for him." Morgan answered. "Wouldn't you want to be here if your family were kidnapped by a sadistic unsub?"

She frowned, "But it's not my family we're talking about Agent Morgan. We're talking about two missing FBI agents who's been kidnapped and are being held captive. We don't need civilians interfering."

"He's not interfering. He's helping." Morgan growled, glaring at her.

"Are you certain that your team can handle this case?" Strauss asked, frowning at him again. "I think you might be letting your emotions get in the way of your better judgment."

"I'm not." Morgan snapped. "The team is perfectly capable of working this case. In fact, we're the most qualified to do it."

She pursed her lips, "I see… have you even gotten an leads so far?"

"Yes." Morgan said, his eyes narrowing. "We know who the unsub is now, and why he's doing this."

"Oh." She raised her brows, "And you failed to let me know, why?"

He scowled, "Because, _ma'am_, we only recently discovered the information ourselves and I was in the middle of an interrogation."

"Hmm, yes, I noticed that. Brandon Thomas… he's not your unsub, is he?"

"No." Morgan forced through clenched teeth. "He's not."

"Then why were you interrogating him?" she asked, frowning.

"To find out how credible the unsub is." Morgan answered. "He told us… something about Mr. Thomas and I called him in to verify it."

"And you put him in an interrogation room?" she looked shocked. "Why would you put an innocent man in an interrogation room?"

"He's not innocent. He raped… a twelve year old kid when he was seventeen."

She blinked, frowned and then sighed. "And the statute of limitations is up." she said. "You can't arrest him for anything."

"That's why I didn't." Morgan growled, getting more and more angry.

"This unsub, who is he?" Strauss asked. "Why has he targeted your agents?"

"He's George Foyet's cousin, Christopher Brant." Morgan answered.

She stared at him, "You mean… The Boston Reaper's cousin kidnapped your agents…?"

"Yes," Morgan said. "He's pissed at Hotch for killing Foyet and he probably took Reid to use him against Hotch."

She pressed a finger to the bridge of her nose, mumbling something that sounded like, "Just when I thought all of the Foyet madness was over…" She looked up, frowning. "Agent Morgan, this is getting too personal for your team."

"With all due respect, ma'am, no it's not. We can handle this."

"I'm not questioning your ability as profilers…" she said. "But you and the rest of your team are too emotionally involved in this case. I'm giving you two hours. Find something, or the case is reassigned."

"What?"

"You heard me, Agent Morgan. Two Hours." Strauss said, locking her eyes on his.

"We need more time than that -"

"Then the case will be reassigned. I've made my decision, Agent Morgan. If you want to help your friends, go and start looking." she ordered.

Morgan stood, fists clenched, and left the office, slamming the door on his way out. Two freaking hours? How the hell were they supposed to find them in two hours?

* * *

Hotch didn't say a word as Chris uncuffed his wrist and half dragged him over to the table, strapping him down again. His eyes kept falling on the unconscious Reid and he knew that their chances of survival were slipping drastically with each passing hour. Especially Reid's. He started trying to come up with a plan to get them out of there, but there was no way Reid would be able to make it. He could hardly stand, let alone run.

Hotch could run… if he could manage to over power Chris, just for a moment, he could run, steal the car and get help… That would mean leaving Reid alone with Chris and he didn't want to do that, but it seemed like their best option. And of course, there was the thought that he would be unsuccessfull. Then Reid would be punished and it would've all been for nothing. He glanced at Reid and bit his lip, the thought of him being put through more pain making him sick. Still, it _was _their best option.

Slowly, Hotch decided that it was worth a try… and if he failed, and Chris hurt Reid again… Hotch knew Reid would forgive him - if he survived - but would he be able to forgive himself? Probably not. But he'd already decided that he deserved to live with the guilt anyway. He doubted very much that Chris would intentionally kill Reid, but just one little accident, one slip up and it would be over…

His head was pounding from both the earlier beating and the constant swirl of the inner argument. He was the only one capable of managing an escape and they definitely needed help. If he managed to escape, he could bring help and Reid would be ok. If he failed… Chris wouldn't kill Reid. Either way, it seemed like their only real option at the moment.

He was so lost in his thoughts that he hadn't noticed Chris leaning over him, holding a knife. "I don't think I want to use the electricity on you just yet, Aaron." Chris said, smiling. "You've got to be conscious for our game, remember?"

Hotch didn't respond. He forced himself to stay quiet, in fact. He wasn't ready to risk making Chris angry enough to hurt Reid, or to hurt him so badly that escape was even harder. Chris unbuttoned the shirt Hotch was wearing and smiled down at the ugly patch of skin that he'd burned. It was a nasty blackish, yellow color and looked like half rotted hamburger meat.

He ran the blade of the knife over the skin lightly, laughing at the wince it caused. "Painful, Aaron?" he asked, grinning.

Hotch scowled and clenched his jaw, determined not to speak.

Chris sighed, and slide the knife down lower, until it was just above his naval. Grinning, He gently pushed down on the knife, just enough to break the skin, and dragged in across his abdomen, creating a shallow cut. He repeated the motion again, just about the cut, only pushing the knife in a little bit deeper. Then he moved up higher, and pushed the knife down all the way through the layers of skin and fat, just before reaching the muscle, and dragged it along similarly. Hotch grunted and winced, knowing it was only going to get worse. Finally, Chris moved the knife up so that he just a few inches below his rib cage and shoved the knife down all the way through the muscle, tearing it painfully.

A half strangled scream erupted briefly before Hotch bit down on his lips to cut it off. Damn, that hurt. He was breathing heavily by the time Chris laid the knife aside and studied him. "I think that's enough… for now." he said, grinning.

Hotch clenched his fists, tensing as the restraints were undone. This would probably be his only chance at escape. He held his breath, hoping he was doing the right thing when Chris undid the second ankle restraint and Hotch lunged at him, knocking him down to the floor, grunting in pain. He ran, holding a hand to his bleeding abdomen, and fumbled with the lock on the door, hearing Chris grunting and standing behind him.

Without glancing back, Hotch shoved the door open and ran through the dark house, down the narrow halls and out the front door, hearing footsteps pounding behind him. "You fucking bastard!" Chris screamed, chasing after him. "I'll make you pay for that!"

Hotch swallowed and kept running, glancing only a moment into the SUV and seeing no keys inside. He continued forward. There had to be a house out here somewhere. Someone who could help him. He ducked behind a pile of bushes, everything throbbing painfully, as he heard Chris's angry breathing stop a few feet from his hiding place.

He put a hand over his mouth to quiet his own breathing and waited as Chris stood there, looking around for a moment and then running forward. Hotch waited a few minutes and then bit his lip, standing. He really was in the middle of nowhere. There were no other houses, not even a real road, just a wide dirt path.

Glancing in the direction Chris had run, Hotch turned and went back toward the house. There had to be a phone inside somewhere… and keys to SUV. If he could find the keys… he could get Reid out of there too. He quickened his pace, glancing back over his shoulder every few seconds to make sure Chris hadn't given up and returned.

* * *

**E/N: I, in all honesty, think what Hotch did was the RIGHT thing to do, ok? Just saying… yeah, it'll probably cost Reid, but it's also going to end up helping them in the long run, ok? Hopefully anyway… you'll see…**

**Don't forget to review!**


	15. On Their Way

**A/N: Thanks once again for all of the awesome reviews! I heart you guys! And of course, thanks to everyone who added this to favorites and story alert too! You all rock!**

**So… hmm… I'm thinking maybe they'll be rescued soon… BUT There's one more teensy weensy little torture scene first… *cough*cough* No, seriously, it's not like… anything major… (Psst! I'M A LIAR! Just so ya know…)**

**WARNING: torture; blood; gore; language; violence…**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**

**

* * *

**

Ch. 15: On Their Way

Morgan flung the doors open to the conference room, his eyes dark with anger. "I just talked to Strauss. She said we've got two hours. Two hours or the case is reassigned."

"What?" Prentiss scowled, "How are we supposed to solve this in two hours? It's taken us more than two days to get this far!"

"I know… Garcia, I need everything, and I mean everything you can get me on Christopher Brant," Morgan said, turning to stare at the technical analyst who was already busy typing away on her laptop. "Rossi, you and JJ go to Brant's last known address… see if there's anything there. Prentiss, you come with me to the hospital. It's about a half hour away… We need to hurry."

They nodded and were gone quickly, none of them bothering with jackets, hastily gathering files and grabbing keys. "What about me?" Sean asked, "I want to help too…"

Morgan looked at him, frowning. "Right now, the best thing for you to do is stay here, Sean. Stay here and stay safe. If this guy's mad enough to torture Reid to get to Hotch, he'd do the same to you."

Sean scowled, about to protest when Garcia put a hand on his shoulder and gently pushed him back down in the seat next to her. "I know this is hard, Sean." she said earnestly. "I always the one left behind in times like this, but trust me, they're a good team. They're good at what they do and they will bring Hotch home. There's no way they'll fail."

Sean's face softened slightly and he nodded. "Alright," he said slowly. "Just… make sure he's alright." he demanded, looking intently into Morgan's eyes.

Morgan nodded, "I promise," he said, half jogging out of the door, following Prentiss down the hall.

* * *

Hotch fumbled back into the house, searching for something, anything, that he could use. The keys weren't in any of the drawers in any of the cabinets downstairs… and he still hadn't found a phone. He was sure if Chris had called the team, he'd used a disposable cell, but where would he keep it? He cast his eyes up the narrow stair case and winced at the thought of climbing them… But if the keys were up there, if the phone was up there… he had to try.

Grunting, he placed one hand against the railing for support and half dragged himself up the stairs, each step making it harder to breath, but hopefully pushing him closer to freedom. He reached the landing and collapsed, taking a minute to catch his breath and grip his now aching stomach before pushing himself up on his knees and looking around.

The lighting was far better up here than downstairs. The carpeted floor was a beige color, some areas of it now stained with his blood. He took a deep breath and gave a tremendous heaving, pushing himself to his feet. He wobbled for a second, caught his balance against the wall and fumbled with the door knob for the first room.

Inside was a bed, a dresser and an alarm clock. An outdated desktop computer sat on the desk, next to a notebook with neat, tiny handwriting. Hotch picked up the notebook and realized that it was a journal… The dates went back all the way to the day that Haley had died. God, Chris had been planning this for a long time. Nearly a year…

Each entry was labeled with a date, a time and a name. Derek Morgan. Spencer Reid. David Rossi. Emily Prentiss. Jennifer Jareau. Penelope Garcia. Aaron Hotchner. His name appeared the most in the book, Reid's only a few less times.

He flipped to the back of the book and read the last few entries, all having been written since they'd been taken. The last one about Reid mentioned their conversation… Hotch nearly dropped the book when he read what Reid had agreed to do in order to save Sean's life… He sat the book down and searched the rest of the room, hoping to find the keys. But there was nothing.

He was twisting the door open when he heard another door slam downstairs and he froze. He could hear mumbling as heavy footsteps clomped through the lower section of the house. Chris was back. Damn. He knew it was the door to their room being opened when he heard another door slam and he suddenly felt sick with guilt. Reid was alone with Chris and the man was obviously not happy.

Quietly, Hotch eased the door open and went to the next room, twisting the knob and hoping to find something useful inside. What he found was a room with little light, and several computer monitors, all playing either live footage or logged video of his and Reid's time in the house. He found an email sitting open on one of the monitors and read it, realizing this must've been Chris's original contact with the team.

He was amazed the man knew so much about them. It was unsettling. But he didn't waste time thinking about it, because that's when he saw the it. The cell phone. No, wait… two cell phones. He frowned. Why two? Then he realized that one of them was the disposable cell Chris used to call the team… the other was probably Chris's personal phone.

He picked up both phone and in on of them found that there had been two calls made to Morgan's phone on it, confirming his suspicions. He picked up the other phone and was greeted by the picture of two boys, about sixteen years old, holding up knives in the sunlight, grinning. He immediately recognized one of them as Chris… the other looked vaguely familiar… If he didn't know any better, he'd say it was a younger version of Foyet, but that was impossible. Wasn't it?

But the longer he looked at the picture, the more sure he became. It was definitely Foyet. Those eyes… God, those eyes had haunted his nightmares long enough for him to know. But that meant… Chris was doing all of this because of what he'd done to the Reaper? Suddenly, he felt anger rise inside of him. Foyet had deserved what happened to him. After all the lives he'd taken, all the people he'd hurt, he'd gotten off lucky. And Chris was going to torture Reid and him the way he had been because he'd killed the bastard?

Clenching his jaw tight, Hotch shakily dialed the BAU number, praying he wasn't too late to help Reid…

* * *

Reid groaned and twisted slightly on the bed, hearing a door slam. He cracked his eyes open and winced. Everything hurt. Throbbing, twitching, aching, bleeding. He doubted very seriously if there was a part of him that was unharmed. He rolled over and glanced at Hotch's bed, frowning when he saw it empty. His eyes immediately looked toward the autopsy table but it was empty too…

Chris stood in the door, his face red and sweating, his eyes dark and angry. Reid felt his heart rate start to speed up. "Wh-Where's Hotch?" he managed to asked, fear cracking his voice.

Chris scowled, glaring at him before taking several deep breaths and walking toward him, sitting down on the bed Hotch had been on. "Gone." he said finally.

"G-Gone? You mean -?"

"He's alive. For now." Chris said. "Bastard ran off… but he can't get very far as hurt as he is… and there's no one for miles. He'll probably starve to death before he reaches the main road."

Reid swallowed, trying not to show how happy he actually was to hear the Hotch had gotten out. Chris didn't know Hotch the way he did. He knew Hotch would get help. He wasn't going to let anything, especially physical pain, stop him from doing so. It wasn't really hard to hide the smile trying to etch across his face, considering all of the pain he was in at the moment.

"But… He broke the rules. He fought back…"

Reid swallowed… Broke the rules? Great, more pain…

"So, before I can get started with the experiments I have planned… you need to be punished." Chris said, standing and frowning down at Reid.

Reid bit his lip, not sure which was more disconcerting… the idea of punishment or… experiments. Either way, he knew it wasn't going to be a pleasant experience. "I've missed working in the ER so much," Chris said, sighing heavily as he unlocked the cuff around his wrist and pulled Reid to his feet. His knees immediately buckled under him and Chris had to actually carry him to the table.

"It felt good to perform that surgery… I think we should try another."

"Another… No, please." Reid gasped when he saw Chris pull the needle out.

"Shh, Dr. Reid, this is for your own good. One wrong move from you and you could be dead in an instant." Chris said, pressing the needle into Reid's arm again and emptying the paralytic.

Reid felt his heart pounding in his chest as the paralysis began to work its way through his muscles, yet he could still feel the incessant throbbing of every injury that had been inflicted on him so far in the hell house. Chris rifled through his black bag again and pulled out several gleaming knives and other instruments that Reid would rather not be able to identify.

"I hope you're not too attached to your spleen, Dr. Reid… I have a feeling you won't have it much longer." Chris said, grinning.

* * *

Garcia was frowning at the screen, reading through a long and complicated history of a seriously troubled young man. Chris had been in and out of juvenile detention centers, arrested for aggravated assault twice… and had still managed to get into medical school and graduate third in his glass.

"Have you got anything?" Sean asked from beside her. He was sitting with his hands clenched tight into fists, his eyes bright with anger and a glint of fear. Garcia looked away from his eyes because they reminded her so much of Hotch that it was painful.

"I'm getting there, Sean, don't worry. We're gonna find Hotch and bring him home." Just as she said that, her phone started ringing. Only the team knew her number, so she assumed it was Morgan and quickly pressed 'talk'. "I don't have much yet, Morgan but -"

"Garcia?" a raspy, broken sounding voice interrupted her. For a moment, she didn't recognize it.

"Who's this?" she asked, frowning.

"It's… it's Hotch."

"Hotch! Oh my God!" She gasped, her fingers stilling over the keyboard. She felt Sean stiffen next to her and throw her an anxious, intense look. "Where are you? Are you alright? Where's Reid?"

"Slow down," Hotch whispered - she realized that was why it was so hard for her to recognize his voice - "I'm… I don't know where I am. I'm upstairs in Chris's house… Reid and I were kidnapped… I -" there was a pause as he grunted in what was definitely pain. "I need you to … to track this call and get the rest of the team here. Reid's alone with the guy and he's angry…"

He trailed off, sounding tired. "Alright, Hotch, just stay with me, ok?" Garcia said as she worked on tracking the call. "I've got your location…" she said, grinning for the first time in days.

"Good… I'll let you go so -"

"No, Hotch, stay on the line, I'll call Morgan from an office phone, you sound like your hurt. I don't want you passing out on me. Do you have a concussion?"

"I'm fine, Garcia," Hotch insisted.

"You are not," Garcia argued, looking around for another phone… she spotted a landline phone in the corner of the conference that was almost never used and started to stand. "Look, I'm gonna call Morgan, in the mean time… there's someone who really wants to speak to you." she handed the phone to Sean, saying, "He's gonna be alright. Just keep him talking."

Sean nodded and took the phone from her while she rushed over and grabbed the other phone, dialing Morgan's number.

* * *

Morgan slammed his hand against the steering wheel as a car pulled out in front of him. "Damn it!" he snapped, his fists tightening.

"Calm down, Morgan." Prentiss urged, staring at him worriedly. "We've got to stay focused, ok?"

Morgan glared at her, about to say something when his phone rang. He didn't even bother glancing at the caller ID, he just snapped it open and growled, "What?" into the receiver.

"Morgan… I've got location. Hotch just… he just called. They're alive, but… he sounded bad and he said Reid's alone with the guy…" Garcia's voice babble quickly.

"What? You… where?" Morgan's fists unclenched and he blinked, hope beginning to flood through him.

"I just sent the location to your phone. I'll call Rossi and JJ and tell them to head there too. And I'll call an ambulance."

"Thank you," Morgan said, turning the car around. "Thank you."

* * *

Reid wished he could scream, he really wanted to at the moment as the knife dug deeper into his abdomen and tore through skin and muscle. He could feel the blood seeping down his side and wondered how he was ever going to survive after losing so much blood.

Chris seemed to be in an different place, his eyes bright with excitement as he sliced through Reid's torso.

Reid winced and grunted when he felt fingers in the wound, pushing around inside of him. He tried to beg him to stop, tried to make his body cooperate with him when he felt the knife again.

_Please, God make it stop! _He screamed in his mind. He tried to distract himself by thinking about Hotch. Hotch was free, he was getting help. The team would be there soon, they had to be. He would hang on for a little while longer and then he would be free too. That was assuming that he survived this, of course. _Hurry Hotch._ He though desperately. _Please hurry!_

* * *

Hotch breathed a sigh of relief when Garcia said she had their location. It was a good thing Chris had two cell phone, because she wouldn't have been able to trace the disposable one. He frowned for a moment when she said there was someone who wanted to talk to him. Who?

Then he heard another voice, shaking slightly, "Aaron? Are you ok?"

Hotch felt his heart stop. "Sean?" he gasped, falling to the floor as his knees buckled underneath him. "Is that you?"

* * *

**E/N: So… Yeah, I ended it there, no making angry threats. The team is on their way! WOOHOO! XD**

***cough* yeah… about Reid's spleen being removed? I've actually been planning that once since I started writing this… Don't understand how you guessed that, Laura… it's kinda creepy… lol**

**Don't forget to review!**


	16. Hang In There

**A/N: Thanks so much for all of the wonderful reviews! And of course, thanks to everyone who added this to favorites and alert! I heart you guys!**

**Super sorry for not updating yesterday! I was stuck at school until after 7 bc of my brother's stupid class meeting and my little sister's AR night… NOT fun, I might add… sigh…**

**Most Mondays the updates on my stuff will be delayed or just won't be posted because of that. Thursdays might turn out similarly because my brother has band practice 'til five on those days 2...**

**On the upside, I got 2day off of school bc I passed FCAT in 10****th**** grade, I'm a senior and today is re-takes! WOOHOO XD**

**WARNING: violence; torture; language; blood; gore**

**PLEASE REVIEW! **

* * *

Ch. 16: Hang In There

Sean bit his lip, so happy to actually hear his brother's voice that he could feel tears pricking his eyes. He wiped them away quickly before the tech girl, Garcia, could see them. "Yeah, it's me, Aaron. Are you ok?"

He thought he heard what could've been a laugh from Aaron, but he wasn't sure. "A little bruised… gonna have some… scars." He heard the strain in his brother's voice though, and knew that he was lying. "I'll make it. I've had worse…" he trailed off and Sean knew they were both thinking about their dad, though neither of them would mention it.

"What about the bastard who did this? Where's he?"

There was a long pause before Aaron finally responded again, "He's… downstairs… with Reid."

"Reid?" Sean asked. "He was kidnapped too, but… which one is he? I haven't really met your team… he was the skinny kid, right?"

That time he was sure Aaron laughed, "Yeah, the skinny kid with the long hair… well, he cut it not long ago, but -" he grunted and Sean bit his lip. He didn't like hearing the pain in his brother's voice. "But at the … at the funeral it was still pretty long."

Sean nodded, forgetting for a second that Aaron couldn't see him. "Right, I think I remember him. I have all of their faces, but the names don't always connect."

Aaron didn't say anything for a long time, Sean started to worry that he had passed out. "Aaron, you still there?"

"Yeah… I just… what if he kills him?"

That was his first clue that things were really bad. The raw, exposed emotion in Aaron's voice. He hardly ever allowed so much of what he was feeling to be seen or heard. And there were very few people who'd ever been privy to the scant amount of times that he had. Sean wasn't sure whether or not it was a good thing that he was one of those people. "Who? Reid? Aaron, he's gonna be ok. You're there with him, remember? You protected him, I'm sure. You always protected me."

"But I left him alone with him, Sean. If… if he dies… it's my fault."

"No, Aaron. It's not your fault. I don't know Agent Reid, but… but from what I've seen from this team of yours, none of them blame you for this and he won't either."

"Sean, do you realize what he did? Chris told him that he would either kill him and you, or keep Reid here and … and experiment on him, and Reid said he would stay, as long as you and I were ok. He said that. He doesn't even know you, and this whole thing is my fault. I'm his boss, I'm supposed to protect him, and he's protecting me."

"He… he did that?" Sean asked, shocked that someone would actually do something like that for him.

"According to Chris's journal he did… and I know Reid, if Chris told him that, Reid would do anything to make sure that other's weren't hurt… ahh!" he paused and hissed.

"Are you ok?" Sean asked anxiously, gripping the phone.

"F-Fine." Aaron lied. "Just… in a little pain."

"Hang in there, Aaron." Sean urged, "Agent Morgan and the rest of your team are on their way."

* * *

Morgan pressed his foot against the gas peddle, forcing the SUV to go as fast as it possibly could, his knuckles tight against the steering wheel. They had to get there in time. They just had to.

Prentiss, in the seat next to him, was gripping the door handle in a similarly tight hold, glancing at the man worriedly. She wanted to get there as quickly as possible too, but the look on Morgan's face worried her. He was almost definitely not thinking rationally as he sped down the highway and finally turned off of the main road, onto a worn dirt path.

"Morgan?" Prentiss asked, still eyeing him worriedly.

"Do you think it's a good idea to go running in there like this? I mean, Garcia said that Hotch said that Reid's alone with Christopher. What if he hears us coming and decided to kill him?"

Morgan grip tightened even more if that were possible, "We've got to get there, Prentiss. I'm not slowing down. I'm not giving this bastard one extra second with either of them."

She nodded slowly, "I know, I was just saying that -"

"I know what you were saying." Morgan interrupted her. "And you're probably right. We'll be quiet… but right now, we need to get there as fast as we can. Like Hotch said, Reid's alone with him."

* * *

Reid was breathing as rapidly as his tight muscles would allow him to, the pain so intensely agonizing he wished he would just pass out, even though he knew that was a bad sign. He gasped and grunted, feeling Chris tearing through his abdomen. He had reached his spleen finally, and had begun the painful process of removing it.

He focused all of his efforts on shutting his mind off to the pain. Pain was just a signal to the brain, after all. A signal that something was wrong. Terribly wrong in this case. But he tried not to dwell on that, instead forcing himself to go to another place. A place where Chris did not exist. A place where this pain was gone.

After a few minutes, he realized that Chris was whistling to himself and suddenly felt sick. He was actually enjoying this. Enjoying ripping open a human being and poking around inside of them, taking away parts of them and watching the pain and fear in their eyes grow.

It was sick and twisted, but that was exactly what Chris was. He gasped again as he felt something move inside of him. Chris was delicately lifting out the spleen now. Reid wanted so badly to scream, to scream as loud as he possibly could. But his body simply would not cooperate. So instead he screamed in his mind.

He screamed at Chris for doing this to him, at himself for allowing it to happen. He screamed for it to just be over, for the darkness from before to come back and take him under, for the team to hurry and get there, for someone to stop this psycho before he managed to kill him.

Chris continued whistling to himself as he removed Reid's spleen from his body and sat the organ into a waiting container on the tray next to his bag of torture devices. "Now, to close you up…" Chris said, turning back to the open and bleeding wound in Reid's torso. Reid winced, not liking the idea of more stitches at all, even if they were helpful. He already lost so much blood, he wasn't sure if the stitches were going to be much help anyway.

* * *

Hotch winced and shifted his position so that he was more comfortable. His head was starting to spin and throb. Whether it was from the blood loss or the concussion he likely had, he couldn't say. Maybe it was a combination of the two. All he knew was that he wanted to hit something. Someone. He hated feeling so weak and useless.

Chris was down there, probably torturing Reid and here he was sitting on the floor, talking on the phone. What kind of man does that? The weak kind. Hotch scowled, trying to stand and almost immediately falling back as pain shot through his stomach. Maybe it was the hurt kind too… he decided.

Weak was not a word he wanted to use to describe himself, but at that moment, he thought it fit perfectly. He tried to focus on what Sean was saying and not on his own pain and fears as his eyes kept darting toward the door and the stairs that led to Reid. He didn't want to think about what Chris could be doing to the younger man at the moment. Any number of horrifying things could be taking place.

He leaned his head back against the desk and took a long breath, closing his eyes. The team was on their way, he knew that. And if Morgan drove the way he usually did, they'd be here pretty soon. All he needed to do was hang on and wait. Rescue was on the way.

* * *

Morgan almost slammed on the breaks when they pulled up to an old farm house that truly was out in the middle of nowhere. Rossi and JJ were only moments behind them. The four agents climbed out of the car and drew their guns. "Rossi, when we go in you and JJ go upstairs and find Hotch, alright? Prentiss, you come with me and see if we can't find Reid. Garcia said Hotch said the room was at the end of hall, right?"

Prentiss nodded, "Right."

Morgan pressed his lips together and they walked cautiously to the front door. There was blood on the steps and carpet, they assumed it was Hotch's and it made them all shudder to think of Hotch bleeding so much. Without a word, Morgan motioned to the stairs and Rossi and JJ quietly ascended them. Morgan and Prentiss continued on down the hall.

They came to a large door that was standing partially open. Whimpers and grunts could be heard from inside the room and Morgan instantly recognized them as Reid's. His eyes narrowed and his jaw tightened. He held up three fingers and slowly lowered them one by one before bursting into the room, gun drawn.

* * *

Hotch heard footsteps coming up the stairs and tensed, "Sean?" he hissed, his voice a low whisper. "Someone's coming up."

"It's probably your team." Sean assured him from the other end of the line.

Hotch nodded slowly, staring at the door as the knob began to turn and it was pushed open. He let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding when he saw Rossi and JJ standing in the doorway. JJ was immediately by his side, "Hotch, oh my God!" she gasped, staring at the bruises and the blood and the nasty path of burned skin still exposed on his chest.

Rossi stood a little farther back, holstering his gun and frowned, "You alright?" he asked quietly.

Hotch managed a shrug, though it sent bolts of pain through his entire body. "I've seen better days." he said, pushing himself up slightly. JJ put a hand on his shoulder to keep him from trying to stand.

"Just be still, Hotch." she ordered. "Garcia called the paramedics; they'll be here soon."

"What about Reid?" Hotch demanded, his lips pressing together in a familiar thin line.

"Morgan and Prentiss are going to get him," Rossi assured him. Just then, from downstairs, they heard a gun fire.

* * *

Reid grunted again as the needle pierced his skin and Chris began stitching together the torn skin. His breathing hitched slightly as he felt the strange tingling spreading through him. The drugs were beginning to wear off again, though he was pretty sure he still had a few more minute of paralysis at least.

He gasped and winced when he heard the door open and Chris jammed the needle a little too hard into him. "Christopher Brant," a familiar voice ordered. "Drop the needle and step away from him. Now."

Chris looked up and grinned, his hands never wavering off the needle. "Ah, Agent Morgan, so nice to finally meet you in person." he said calmly. "What a pleasant surprised."

"I'm only going to say it one more time, Christopher," Morgan warned, his fingers tightening over the trigger. He was forcing himself not to look at Reid. "Put down the needle and step away from Agent Reid."

"I'm afraid I can't do that," Chris said, shaking his head. "I need to finish closing the wound,"

Morgan growled, "Last chance, Christopher." he snapped. "Move. Now."

Chris shook his head, "I don't think so, Agent Morgan," he said slowly. He leaned over and started to reach for a knife. Morgan growled again and pulled the trigger rapidly, five times. Five bullets found their way into Christopher's chest and the man fell forward. Reid felt his fingers slip from the needle as he crumpled to the floor.

Morgan rushed forward, Prentiss right behind him, "Reid! Reid can you hear me? Oh my God…" Morgan gasped as he got a good look at Reid. He was bruised and cut and covered in blood. God, it was everywhere and he was so damn pale. Paler than usual. "Reid, talk to me, say something." He ordered, already fumbling for the restraint on Reid's right wrist. Prentiss was undoing the one on his left.

Reid winced and tried to get his muscles to cooperate but he could only managed to make a few grunting noises.

"Morgan," Prentiss said, nodding toward the syringe on the silver tray. "I don't think he can."

Morgan eyed the syringe worriedly, "Reid, this isn't… what is this?" he looked up to Prentiss for a second, but Reid managed to shake his head just enough for Morgan to understand. It was Dilaudid. He breathed a sigh of relief and sat the needle down while Prentiss gently removed the other needle from Reid's stomach.

"It's ok, Reid." Morgan promised him, "Paramedics are on the way. Just hang in there, Kid. We're gettin' you out of here."

* * *

**E/N: Hmm, not the violent death I wanted for Chris, but I suppose it'll just have to do. I couldn't really find a realistic reason for Chris to fall into a vat of boiling oil… OOH! I'll just pretend that one of his many punishments in the Fields of Punishment…**

**YAY! They're saved! Now comes the healing stuff… oh great, I'm not so good w/the healing…**

**Don't forget to review!**


	17. The Monster Under The Bed

**A/N: :3 Thanks yet again to all of the amazing reviewers! And of course, thanks to everyone who added this to favorites and alert as well!**

**TYPO: Yes, there was a typo in the last chapter. *winces* I noticed it AFTER I updated and got a few reviews about it too. I'm sorry guys! It was supposed to be WASN'T not WAS at the end when it said: "It was Dilaudid." I didn't do a good job proofing the chapter, sorry! That's all on me guys! I would never give Reid Dilaudid. He was given a paralytic, not a narcotic! Sorry!**

**WARNING: violence; torture; blood; gore; language… hmm, most of that's over now that Chris is DEAD! XD so, mostly just mentions of all of that wonderful stuff from before…**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**

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Ch. 17: The Monster Under The Bed

Morgan held Reid's hand tightly as they made their way to the waiting ambulance. He was shaking and trembling badly, but as soon as the paralytic wore off and he could speak, the first thing he said was "Hotch… where's Hotch?"

"He's upstairs. They're bringing him down now. Just stay calm, kid. You're only gonna make it worse." Morgan said, wondering if it could actually get any worse than it already was.

Reid nodded slowly, his thin fingers clutching Morgan's tightly. "Thank you." he whispered.

Morgan smiled, "Thank Hotch. He's the reason we found this place. Now shut up, Pretty Boy. You're wasting your breath."

Reid managed a small smile and laid his head down against the gurney, closing his eyes and relaxing for the first time in two and a half days.

* * *

Hotch scowled and tried to push away the paramedics who were trying to load him onto the gurney. "I'm fine." he snapped.

"Hotch," JJ was there again, putting a gentle hand on his shoulder. "You're not fine. You need to go to the hospital. Now."

Hotch frowned, "Where's Reid?" he demanded.

"In an ambulance with Morgan," JJ told him. "Now will you please let them help you? You need to lay down and let them get you to the hospital."

Sighing, Hotch complied, lying back and allowing the paramedics to do their jobs. He just wanted to see Reid. To know he was alright. Well… as alright as someone could possibly be after all that had happened. "What about Chris?" he asked as JJ climbed into the ambulance with him.

"He's dead. Morgan shot him." she answered stiffly, a frown in her eyes. She had seen what the man had done to her friends and as far as she was concerned, he got off easy.

* * *

The atmosphere in the waiting room was tense. Morgan and Sean refused to sit down, both pacing around the floor restlessly. Jessica sat holding a sleeping Jack, next to Garcia, JJ and Prentiss, who were trying to distract the woman. Rossi was sitting rigidly in his chair, looking both anxious and scared to move.

Finally, a doctor walked out. "Aaron Hotchner?" he asked, glancing around the room. Sean and Morgan were instantly at his side, JJ, Garcia, Prentiss and Rossi right behind them. Jessica looked on anxiously from her seat where she continued holding Jack in her arms.

The doctor eyed them all curiously but didn't remark on the gathering, taking a deep breath, he sighed, "Agent Hotchner suffered several deep cuts to his abdomen that were repaired, the muscle damage thankfully wasn't too severe. He had a couple more shallow cuts to his chest and third-degree burns as well, but with time and proper treatment, that should heal. He had a mild concussion and several bruised ribs, and a broken arm. He's just coming out of surgery and is still heavily sedated…"

"Can I see him?" Sean demanded, frowning at the doctor.

"Who are you?" The doctor asked.

"His brother."

Slowly the doctor nodded, "Alright, you can see him. But not for too long… are the rest of you family as well?"

"Yes." Morgan answered immediately.

Sean nodded at the doctor's questioning glance and the doctor sighed, "Alright, fine. But only one visitor at a time."

"What about Spencer Reid?" Morgan asked, his eyes squinting together in worry.

"From what I know, he's in the OR at the moment… his surgeon will notify you when he's finished."

The team sighed reluctantly and nodded, watching Sean disappear down a hall to see his brother.

* * *

Sean walked into Aaron's room and winced at the sight of him lying in the bed, pale and bruised. He looked so completely vulnerable it was hard to believe he was the same person. The same big brother who had stood up to his father for him. The same strong willed, unemotional rock that had always been his shoulder to cry on.

He was breathing deeply in his drug induced sleep. Sean couldn't help but think that, despite the bruises, his brother had never looked so calm and peaceful before in his entire life. He took the chair sitting next to the bed and just sat there for a few minutes, wondering what to say to the unconscious brother that had always been his protector, now lying in a hospital bed.

He smiled sadly, "You know, when we were kids it was always you who protected me. Who sat by my bed at night and told me stories and scared away the monster under the bed… Now I'm sitting here next to you while you're hurt and… I don't even know what to say. How'd you do it all those years Aaron? How could you have held that burden and not broken?" He paused, sighing.

"I guess Foyet and his cousin were like the monster's under your bed, huh? Well, they're gone now. And if that bastard has any other family hiding out there… How 'bout next time you just sit out the danger? I don't like seeing my brother like this. You look almost as bad as you did at Haley's funeral…"

He chewed his lip, feeling tears he refused to cry pricking his eyes. "I… I don't even know how to say thank you for all of the things you did for me. Even when you were a total jackass," he smiled. "You were always thinking about what you thought was best for me… And you somehow still loved me, even when I was a pain in the ass little brother who couldn't learn from his mistakes the first time."

He lifted his eyes and stared at his sleeping brother, "I doubt you can actually hear this, but I'll probably say it again when you wake up anyway, so I guess it doesn't matter… I love you, Aaron. You're just about the best older brother a stubborn kid like me could ever ask for. And I'm not gonna lose you, not because of some bastard with a grudge. Next time a monster crawls out from under your bed, shine the flashlight in its eyes like you used to do for me, ok?"

He leaned back in the chair and smiled, watching his brother rest. At least now he was out of that monster's clutches. He was safe… not entirely sound, but safe all the same. That was what really mattered.

* * *

**E/N: Eh, a little short… hope it wasn't crap. Like I said, I'm not so good with the "healing" … Next chapter is Reid…**

**Don't forget to review!**


	18. Better Aim

**A/N: Thanks again for all of your awesome reviews! You guys rock! And of course thanks to everyone who added this to favorites and alert!**

**Alright, so… Reid's up next… Do you think he can be fixed? Hmm. Yep. I'll find a freakin' way, even if medically, it doesn't make sense. Let it be known that I'm not a doctor, don't know much about medical science and also that this is FICTION, therefore, if I want Reid to live through an impossible situation, he damn sure will!**

**WARNING: blood; violence; torture; language; medical stuff I semi-made up…**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**

* * *

Ch. 18: Better Aim

It was several hours before a very tired and ragged looking doctor walked into the waiting room and asked, "Spencer Reid?" Everyone had been to visit Hotch, who was still sedated, by that time and Jessica was still in his room with Jack, who insisted on squeezing himself onto the bed next to his father.

Morgan was the fist one at the doctor's side, followed quickly by JJ, Garcia, Rossi and Prentiss. Sean hung back a little farther, feeling slightly out of place amongst the gathering.

"How is he?" Morgan asked, worry betrayed in his voice.

"He just came out of the OR and is being transported to recovery now… The… torture was quite extensive." he cleared his throat. "I did take your caution about narcotics seriously, but the pain he'll be in… Well, we have to give him _something. _He's on a low dose of morphine. We'll monitor him carefully, of course." he added quickly at the worried looked from Morgan.

"This man was, at least, a skilled surgeon. Dr. Reid's appendix and spleen were both removed cleanly…" he saw a wince pass over the agents' faces and paused again. He couldn't imagine having to see a friend go through something like that. "He also had a toe cut off… two molars were removed and there were severe electrical burns on his chest and abdomen, as well as a deep cut along his lower abdomen. The muscle damage wasn't bad; as I said, whoever did this knew what he was doing, but the electrical burns concern us. Right now, however, our biggest worry is the blood loss and risk of infection."

Prentiss gaped at the surgeon… his spleen AND his appendix? Good God…

"Electrical burns?" JJ gasped. "From what?"

Morgan winced as he answered her, "There was an ECT machine in the room when we found Reid."

"Oh my God!" Garcia shook her head, feeling tears in her eyes. "My poor baby!"

"Can we see him?" Rossi asked, frowning at the surgeon.

The man hesitated, "Not just yet," he answered. "Give him a couple of hours and then I'll allow visitors."

They looked deflated but nodded, understanding the doctor's reasoning.

Suddenly a wide eyed, tear-stained Jessica ran into the waiting room. "Aaron's awake!" she said breathlessly.

* * *

They had to wait several minutes while doctors checked wiring and breathing and temperature and then they were finally allowed - two at a time - into the room. Jessica and Jack went first; Sean and the rest of the team stood outside watching from the window as Hotch smiled and pulled Jack into a loose hug. It was such a sweet sight that it was almost easy to forget why Hotch was in the hospital. Almost.

Sean and Morgan went in next, "Hey Hotch," Morgan said tiredly, sitting in one of the chairs by the bed. Sean took the other. "How are ya feeling?"

Hotch winced as he shifted on the bed. "Like I was hit by a truck," he said. "When did you get here?" he asked Sean.

"As soon as I heard you were missing," Sean said. "I cancelled all my meetings and put my manager in charge of everything until I get back."

"You didn't have to do that…" Hotch started to say.

"Aaron, you're my brother. I'm not gonna sit around twiddling my thumbs while you're in danger. I couldn't lose you."

Hotch smiled, "You're not gonna get rid of my that easily."

Sean snorted, "Well the next time some psychopath wants to kill you, I'll just stay in New York and let you rot."

Hotch smiled, "I missed you." he said quietly.

Sean shrugged, "It's not that hard to pick up a phone, is it?"

"I could say the same thing to you." Hotch pointed out.

"Hey, I flew all the way down here just for you. I think that makes up for the lost time on my part."

Hotch snorted, "I never asked you to come."

Sean rolled his eyes, then his smile got sad. "Don't scare me like that again, Aaron. You're my brother. I need you."

Hotch nodded, "I won't." he promised. Then he turned to Morgan, "How's Reid?"

Morgan hesitated, "He's in recovery right now. The doctor said he'd heal… but they're worried about a possible infection…"

"Have you seen him yet?"

"Not since they took him to surgery, but …damn Hotch, what that bastard did to him… to you… I hate having to ask him about it." Morgan sighed.

"Then don't." Hotch said sternly.

"Hotch, it's protocol -"

"There's video, watch that. From what I could tell, Chris recorded all of it." Hotch said, his voice hard.

Morgan shook his head, "Alright,"

"There was a journal too, in his bedroom -"

"Hotch, calm down. We'll search the house. You just focus on getting better, ok?" Morgan interrupted his boss.

Sighing, Hoch sat back against the pillows. "Keep me updated on Reid." he said.

Morgan nodded, "Of course." he promised, sighing. It was almost surreal to see Hotch look so vulnerable and… hurt. Sean leaned forward, putting his elbows on his knees, and started talking to Hotch again, trying to convince him to come stay with him in New York for a couple of weeks and meet his girlfriend. Morgan smiled, listening to the brothers bicker back and forth. Things at least seemed to be calming down.

* * *

It seemed like a lifetime later when Reid's doctor finally allowed them to see him. He said only one person at a time and insisted that they not jar the bed at all.

Morgan stood outside the door for a long minute before taking a deep breath and steeling himself against the nerves that were clanking inside of him. The last time he'd seen Reid, before the rescue, he'd called him a drug addict… granted he had apologized later, over the phone, but it wasn't the same thing. And now, knowing all that he knew about Reid's past, he could help but feel incredibly guilty for not noticing. For not being there to stop this from happening.

He pushed the door open and walked into the room slowly, taking the empty chair by the bed and looking at his unconscious friend. Reid had been out of surgery for several hours now, and his sleep was more natural than drugs. Still, he looked so peaceful and childlike while sleeping that Morgan couldn't believe he'd really been through all that he'd been through.

Pressing his lips together, Morgan reached out and pushed Reid's hair out of his face gently. "Damn it, kid." he sighed, shaking his head. "Why do you keep doing this to me, huh? We're gonna have to get you a body guard or something… seems like everyone is always tryin' to take you from us." He shook his head.

He sighed, staring at the dark circles under the boy's eyes and wondering how much more world-weary they would be after what Chris had done. He swallowed hard looking at his friend and finally asked the question that had been nagging at him. "Why didn't you tell me, Reid? About Brandon Thomas? You… I thought you trusted me. I mean, I get that it's painful, believe me… but you told about everything else that day. Why'd you keep that burden to yourself?"

He could feel the tears burning behind his eye lids. "I wish I could do something." he said quietly. "To him and all the other bastards that ever hurt you… You didn't deserve that. No one does." he shook his head again. And pressed his lips together, looking down at his hands. "From now on, you're not going anywhere without some kind of freakin' GPS or guard dog."

He looked up a moment later when he heard the sheets on the bed rustle. "I'm not a baby." Reid said weakly, trying to sit up, wincing and falling back down.

Morgan rolled his eyes, smiling. "No, you're worse. You're an danger magnet, FBI agent." he said. "How are you feeling?"

"Surprisingly not bad…" Reid said slowly, shifting so that he was lying on his side. His voice was weak and he was still really pale, but if the bandages on his chest and stomach were hidden by the hospital gown and his foot was covered with the blanket. "I figured I'd be in a lot more pain…"

Morgan frowned, "About that," he said slowly. "The doctor put you on Morphine."

"What!" Reid blinked, jerking forward for a second and then falling back. "Morgan, you should've stopped him… I don't … I can't…"

"Hey, hey, hey! Pretty Boy, calm down! It's a low dosage, ok? And they're gonna monitor you. Besides, you got me here. I'm not gonna let this get out of your control."

Reid frowned and settled back against the bed, "Can't you tell them to take it out?"

"Reid, the doctor said you'd be in too much pain. You had both your spleen and appendix removed -"

"Without painkillers," Reid interrupted. "I was fine without them then."

Morgan scowled, "And a toe cut off… and the… the electrical burns."

Reid winced at the memory of the ECT and looked down. "We don't have to do a cognitive interview yet, do we?"

"We don't have to do one at all. Hotch said Chris recorded everything." Morgan assured him.

Reid looked up, frowning. "The camera, right of course." He said suddenly, nodding.

"Camera?"

"There's a camera in the corner of the room we were in." Reid explained. "I almost forgot about it."

"Oh," Morgan said, nodding. "I… I talked to Brandon Thomas." he said after a minute.

Reid paled, "So he did tell you about that." he said quietly, looking away again.

"Hey, Reid, stop. What he did to you isn't your fault. Brandon Thomas… is one of those sick, twisted people in the world who don't deserve to be in it."

Reid bit his lip and nodded, "I'd rather not talk about him," he said quietly.

"I understand that." Morgan said.

"Why did he do it? Chris?" Reid asked after a minute. "He never told me. I asked him… but he'd only tell me it was something about Hotch."

Morgan frowned, remembering for the first time that Reid and Hotch didn't know. "He was Foyet's cousin." he answered. "I guess he didn't like Hotch killing him."

Reid frowned, "Cousin? But… I don't remember reading anything about him having a cousin."

"He changed his name," Morgan said. "Our original searches didn't pick it up."

"Oh." Reid said, nodding slowly. "What about Hotch? Is he ok? He's ok, right?"

Morgan nodded, "Better than you, kid. He's got a bad burn on his chest, some cuts that's scar and a lot bruises and a couple of broken bones. He'll be outta here before you are."

Reid sighed, "I hate hospitals." he muttered.

"You shouldn't. You spend so much time in 'em, they've almost become your second home." Morgan teased.

Reid frowned and tossed one of the pillows at him, wincing slightly. The pillow didn't go very far, it bounced off of Morgan's shoes and he smiled, "You've really got to work on your throw, kid."

Reid scowled, "I don't need to. I have a gun." he said.

Morgan laughed, "Well, that's new. Jokes from Dr. Reid."

Reid shrugged, "I wasn't joking. I'm serious." he said.

Morgan smiled, "So your threatening me?"

"No, merely stating a fact. Make of it what you will." Reid grinned.

Morgan pursed his lips, "I think it's a threat. Only problem is… I carry a gun too. And I have better aim."

Reid frowned, "That's what you think." he said, smiling.

* * *

**E/N: Much longer… better, or… worse? Hmm… dunno… Reid and Morgan arguing was cute, I think… buuuuuuuuuuuut… nah, Imma stop talking 'fore I go crazy…**

**Don't forget to review!**


	19. Breaking Down

**A/N: Thanks once again to all of awesome people who reviewed! You guys are amazing! And of course, thanks to everyone who added this to favorites and alert as well!**

**Alrighty, so we've had a little Hotch "healing" and Reid "healing" though, I think healing is a very general description… So, now we needs some bonding! Woohoo!**

**WARNING: mentions of lots of bloody torture; language; seriously, you should know this by now…**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**

* * *

Ch. 19: Breaking Down

Garcia sat next to JJ in the chair in Reid's room. It had been three long days since he and Hotch had been rescued and he was being suffocated by all of the people coming in and out of the room with cards and flowers and - in Garcia's case - hugs, stuffed animals and balloons. "Reid, stop whining." Garcia said, swatting his arm gently with a stuffed penguin. "They're cute."

"They're taking up more room on the bed than I am!" He protested, trying once again to shove some of the many toys off of the bed. "I need more room."

"You're skinny. Just scoot over and be still. You're not supposed to be moving anyway." she said, frowning at him. "Now be quite."

He sighed, looking pleadingly at JJ, "JJ, please tell her this is insane!" he begged, motioning to the forty or so stuffed toys that were currently taking over his bed.

JJ smiled, shaking her head, "You can't argue with Garcia, Spence. Sorry." she said, shrugging. "She's always right…"

Garcia nodded, adding the penguin she had been holding to the pile as well, "See there? No stop complaining."

Reid sighed and leaned back against the bed, careful not to tug any of his stitches out. It still hurt to move, despite the morphine that he'd been given, but at least it didn't hurt as badly as it could have. He so far seen every member of the team, plus Jessica, Sean, Jack Henry and Will, at least one time. All of them except Hotch. And Hotch was the one he was worried about.

"Hey Pretty Boy," Morgan grinned, walking into the room. "Comfortable?"

Reid frowned, "No. I'm being attacked by stuffed animals." he muttered, folding his arms across his chest childishly.

Morgan rolled his eyes, but Reid noticed that his smile was dark. "What's wrong?" he asked, his arms falling back to his sides as he eyed his friend worriedly.

Morgan sighed, shaking his head. "Nothing… just… Rossi and I were watching the tapes Chris recorded."

Reid's face fell, "Oh." he said, looking down.

JJ and Garcia stood from their chairs, "We'll just… go get some coffee," JJ said quietly, leading the way out of the room. Morgan waited until they were gone to sit down in Garcia's abandoned chair and move several of the toys away so he could see Reid better.

"Kid… are you gonna be alright?" he asked, frowning at him.

Reid shrugged, "I'm fine, Morgan… it's Hotch I'm worried about. He… he had to watch it. And Chris kept saying it was his fault." he looked up at Morgan with tears in his eyes, "It wasn't his fault, Morgan." he said. "But I know he's gonna blame himself…"

Morgan sighed, "Well you can't start beating yourself up about that. I'll talk to Hotch later. Right now, I'm worried about you. Reid… you're almost acting like nothing happened…"

"Trust me, Morgan, I know something happened. I have nightmares about it… It's kind of hard to delude myself when I'm missing a toe, two teeth, my spleen and my appendix because of it."

Morgan shook his head, "That's not what I'm talking about Reid. You don't let yourself break down. You need to. It doesn't make you weak. Keeping all of that inside of you is only gonna make this harder on you in the long run."

"I know that." Reid said, his voice breaking. "I do… but… but Morgan, how can I just break down when I know what Hotch is putting himself through because of what happened to me? I … I hate Chris, more than I've ever hated anyone. Because of him you all know my biggest secrete, the worst thing that ever happened to me. Because of him, I'll have scars to remind me everyday of what he put me through… and… and this damn morphine is inside of me and I'm gonna live in fear of my addiction every second that I'm here." Tears were running down his face now. "But I can't just break down. Not when Hotch is blaming himself for all of that."

"What if I promised not to blame myself?" Hotch's voice asked from the door. He was sitting in a wheel chair, being pushed in the room by Sean.

"Hotch!" Reid scrubbed at the tears in his eyes and looked at his boss, wincing at the bruises on his face and the cast on his arm.

Hotch managed a small smiled, "Hey, Reid." he said quietly, eyeing his subordinate with slight guilt. Logically, he knew it wasn't his fault that Reid had been hurt. He knew that he'd done all that he could do. But he still felt a pang of guilt when he thought about it. Still, he gritted his teeth and forced himself not to do that in front of him. Reid would only beat himself up about it if he thought that he was feeling guilty.

Sean wheeled him up to the bed and then, turned around, "I'll give you guys some privacy," he said quietly. Morgan shot him a grateful smile and followed him out of the room, shutting the door as he went.

"Reid, Morgan's right," Hotch said after a minute. "You can't just keep it all inside."

Reid sighed, "Hotch, I'm fine… Well, maybe fine isn't the best word, but I'm getting there. Chris didn't… didn't do anything that I can't come back from. I'll be ok."

Hotch shook his head, "I don't believe you." he said. "I can see the fear in your eyes right now, and I saw then too. Reid, it's ok to be scared. Hell, I was scared. And breaking down is natural. It's human."

Reid frowned at him, looking away from his eyes, "You didn't."

"Yes I did… I broke down in that room, when he was torturing you." he managed a small smile. "It's why I have this cast, Reid. I broke down when I talked to Sean, sitting upstairs wondering what the hell Chris was doing to you…" he paused, taking a deep breath. "And I can't sit here and watch you act like you're alright when it's clear that you're not."

Reid bit his lip, "Hotch… I just… what he did… I don't even…" and then the dam broke. The words would just not come, but it was ok. Hotch understood. He pressed his lips together as Reid started to sob and put a hand on Reid's arm, squeezing gently as the young man finally let go of the tears he'd been holding back.

It seemed like hours, though neither was really sure how long it was, before Reid stopped crying and looked down at his hands, wondering if things would ever truly be the same again. "I'm sorry." he whispered.

"Don't apologize, Reid." Hotch said, shaking his head. "It's ok. I told you, it's only human. What Chris did was … evil. Completely evil. No one can fault you for doing what anyone one else would've done in the same situation."

Reid nodded, pressing his lips together. "Thanks, Hotch." he whispered. "Not just for… for that, but for saving me. If you hadn't escaped, hadn't called the team… I'd probably be dead by now."

Hotch shook his head, "Chris didn't want to kill you… and I think he would've done whatever it took to keep you alive if you got too weak."

Reid frowned, "Why do say that?"

"I know about the promise you made him…" Hotch said slowly. "I know how… how difficult it must've been for you do that."

Reid frowned, "I couldn't let him kill your brother. Not just because I wasn't willing to make a small sacrifice. Besides, I knew the team would show up… I didn't know when, but I knew they would."

Hotch smiled, raising a brow, "A small sacrifice? Reid," he shook his head. "You're probably the most selfless people I know. Not many people would consider agreeing to be experimented on in exchanged for the life of a man they'd never met before to be a small anything."

Reid shrugged, "It seems straightforward to me."

"Of course it does…" Hotch sighed, looking down again. "Thank you, for that, Reid. You… I can't even begin to imagine how hard all of this was on you, but you stayed strong. I'm proud of you."

Reid blinked in surprise. "Really?" he asked.

"Really." Hotch said, smiling at the younger man. "You're a lot stronger than you give yourself credit for, you know."

Reid smiled sheepishly and looked down again, "Thanks Hotch," he whispered, smiling at his boss. "For everything."

* * *

**E/N: hmm, not sure how well that was… next chapter is likely the last! Can't believe this is almost over! Thanks so much for your awesome reviews! You guys are great!**

**Don't forget to review!**


	20. The Little Moments

**A/N: Thanks so much for all of your amazing reviews! You're support and occasional threats have made me smile and keep me motivated. And of course, thanks to everyone who added this to favorites and alert! You guys rock too!**

**Sorry I didn't update yesterday I was… I mean… I… um… You see… I… I'm totally drawing a blank here. I was being lazy, alright? I only had to write half a chapter to finish chapter 8 of "Across the Sky in Stars" so I did that, but I simply did NOT want to write yesterday. It was a non-writing kinda day. Sorry!**

**Anyway, before I start begging for mercy - which I REFUSE to do, lol - Imma stop talking… typing, whatev. Here is the FINAL chapter of "Grim Reaper" … **

**PLEASE REVIEW!**

* * *

Ch. 20: The Little Moments

Hotch sat back on the couch, the slight pangs of pain easily ignored by now. Jack was sitting on the floor, playing with his "action figures" next to Henry, who seemed content to watch the five year old in wide eyed fascination. Will and JJ stood, smiling down at their son and Jack, laughing as Henry tried to mimic the sounds Jack was making as he played.

Rossi stood next to the couple, watching the children play on the carpet and finding himself wistfully thinking about what his life could've been like if he'd ever had children. He of course, discarded the idea immediately. He didn't think he was really cut out for parenthood… but then, that was probably because he'd never tried it before…

Jessica sat on the couch next to Hotch, watching the two children with pride and happiness. It was so good to know that even after all the terrible things that had happened recently, life could still have the beautiful moments like this one where they were reminded of the simplicity of joy.

Sean was standing behind a chair where a brunette woman sat, placing one hand over his, watching as his nephew played. He glanced down at the woman - her name was Stephanie - and imagined for one brief moment a third child, younger and with her eyes, sitting on the floor with the other two. He pushed the thought away, deciding it was definitely too soon to be thinking about kids.

Prentiss and Garcia sat next to each other in arm chairs, talking quietly about the two little boys and about Garcia's upcoming anniversary with Kevin. The entire team was there, celebrating the life that still went on, the happiness that could still be found. The joy that still throbbed incessantly, like a low, constant hum, in the background of their dark lives.

And then the door opened and Morgan's voice called from the doorway as he pushed an aggravated looking Spencer Reid into the room in a wheelchair. "Look who's here, guys!" he grinned, motioning to the irritated young man, ruffling his hair playfully.

"Uncle Spencer!" Jack cried, jumped up, leaving his toys forgotten on the floor. He ran over to Reid and hugged him - carefully as he had been warned several times that 'Uncle Spencer' was hurt badly.

Reid's irritated look vanished for one split second as he carefully returned the child's hug and Henry's as well, who had toddled over on shaky legs to his godfather and wrapped his tiny arms around his legs. "Hey, Reid." Hotch smiled at his subordinate, who looked much better than he had back in that hospital room, days after their rescue. "How are you?"

Reid frowned, "I'd be better if I didn't have to be in this wheelchair," he complained.

"Stop whining, Pretty Boy," Morgan teased, "Doctor says you've gotta use the chair, so you've gotta use the chair."

"How are you getting around your apartment with the wheelchair?" Prentiss asked, frowning at him for a moment.

Reid's frown turned into a scowl as he glanced up at Morgan, who answered. "I'm staying with him until he can get on his feet again."

"Ah, that's nice," Stephanie, the brunette whose fingers were still laced with Sean's commented.

"You don't know Morgan," Reid muttered. He'd met Stephanie a few days earlier when she'd arrived from New York to see Sean. The couple was still trying to convince Hotch to go stay with them for a few days while he was on forced vacation otherwise known as medical leave.

"He's going to torture me," Reid complained, folding his arms across his chest.

"Oh shut up, Reid." Morgan rolled his eyes, sitting down in the chair next to Garcia's. "I'm helping you out of the kindness of my heart and you're gonna complain? Maybe I should just leave you by yourself."

"I'd be happier," Reid muttered.

JJ laughed, shaking her head, "You two behave," she warned. "I'd hate to have to let Garcia punish you…"

"And trust me, you don't want to know what I'd make you two do…" Garcia teased, wagging her brows suggestively.

Morgan shuddered, "I don't need the mental pictures, Baby Girl, we're good."

Reid frowned, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"You need to get out more, Reid." Morgan said exasperatedly.

"It's kind of hard to 'get out' when you're confined to a wheelchair and being tormented by your co-worker." Reid pointed out, frowning again.

"A co-worker who is doing everything he can to help you out in your time of need," Morgan added, propping his legs up on the foot stool in front of him, "I had to push you all the way across the hospital parking lot, to the car, help you out of the wheelchair, listen to you complain and then get you back in the wheelchair and this is the thanks I get?"

Reid rolled his eyes, "You also wouldn't give me one moment of peace while we were driving over here and haven't stopped mocking me since we left the hospital room."

"Hey I'm not mocking you now!" Morgan protested, his foot sliding from the footstool to the wheel on the chair.

JJ sighed, "That's it, timeout." she snapped, taking the handles of Reid's chair and pushing him away from Morgan so that he was sitting between Sean and Stephanie and the couch where Hotch was sitting. "Reid, you stay here. Morgan, stop being so immature. Reid's hurt."

Morgan rolled his eyes, "Of course, the baby's hurt so he gets special attention."

"I'm not a baby!" Reid snapped.

"Morgan," JJ warned, raising a brow.

"Alright, alright, I'll lay off him, JJ." Morgan promised, then he grinned, "For now." he added cheerily.

Reid scowled, "Can't someone else take care of me?" he muttered. "Why does it have to be Morgan?"

"Because he's your best friend and despite the fact that he's incredibly annoying, he actually does care about you." Hotch said, smiling. "Quit complaining Reid, I'm stuck with my brother and his girlfriend for at least another week… he refuses to go home…" he added, shooting Sean an annoyed look.

"Not until you agree to come to New York." Sean said, shaking his head.

"I have to work." Hotch argued.

"You're on medical leave," Sean pointed out.

Stephanie sighed and stood from the chair, "You want to know how to settle this?" she asked, looking at the two brothers curiously.

Slowly, Hotch and Sean nodded. She smiled and knelt in front of Jack, "Hey, Jack, how would you like to come to New York with your dad and visit your Uncle Sean?" she asked.

Jack's eyes lit up, "I wanna go! Daddy can we go _now?_"

Hotch groaned, "You've turned my son against me," he muttered.

Sean grinned, "That settles it. You're coming."

Hotch sighed, "Fine. I'll go." he conceded. "But only for a few days."

"Fair enough," Sean said, nodding slowly. "Just remember, Aaron, my house, my rules."

Hotch rolled his eyes, "I'm older than you. I'm in charge."

"We're not kids anymore, Aaron."

"Then stop acting like a ten year old," Hotch retorted.

"You first," Sean snapped.

The team laughed and listened to the two brothers argue, reminded of the moment just minutes ago, with Jack and Henry. Of how simple things could show you just how much life had to offer. It was refreshing to realize that trivial arguing was still acceptable after the torment and torture that had been endured and witnessed. Nice to know that it didn't matter how bad things got, there would always be moments like this were the world made sense.

END

* * *

**E/N: AW! Sweet fluffy-ness! WOOHOO! **

**:') It's over! OMG I can't believe it, but it's true! Thanks once again to everyone who reviewed, added this to favorites and/or story alert! You guys are my motivation! I heart you!**

**Don't forget to review!**


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